One of the most unique customs among space conquerors, according to Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, is a very peculiar gesture: a symbolic shove from the head of Roscosmos, which serves as a kind of “starting impulse” immediately before they board the spacecraft. This was reported by TASS. “These rituals accompany them throughout their entire flight career. Starting from the moment they are enlisted in the corps right up to the very last moments before launch. Perhaps the strangest of them is, it seems to me, that very ‘pre-launch acceleration.’ The first push we receive is not from the rocket engines themselves, but from the head of the space agency: as a crew, rising towards the rocket and physically detaching from the planet’s surface, they receive this very kick,” Kud-Sverchkov said. As he explained, this custom carries deep symbolism: it signifies that cosmonauts and astronauts are obliged to complete their mission flawlessly and should not return to Earth ahead of schedule. The cosmonaut also noted that the history of this “encouragement” spans many decades. “I am of the opinion that rituals give us strength, and they exist both with us and at Cape Canaveral (where US manned missions are launched). As long as we honor our traditions, things are going as they should,” the cosmonaut concluded. Incidentally, the launch of the Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is scheduled for November 27th at 12:28 PM Moscow time. The main crew for the mission includes cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev, as well as US astronaut Christopher Williams. They will stay in orbit for 242 days, with their return scheduled for the end of July 2026.
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