Cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov: “If spaceflight is a cake, then entering the open space is a cherry on the cake”

The space traveler gave a press conference at KFU on 27 February.

He was personally invited by Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences Danis Nurgaliev, with whom Kud-Sverchkov explored the Antarctic in 2021. The meeting was moderated by Director of the Department of Information Policy Salavat Mukhamadullin and was part of the UNITY Foundation’s (Foundation for the Support of Cancer Patients) activities. The cosmonaut’s spouse, Olga Belyakova, who also visited the event, is the Foundation’s ambassador.

Kud-Sverchkov was part of Expedition 63/64 and spent six months in space since October 2020 with one extravehicular activity.

According to the guest, although the flight is automated, one must always be ready for emergencies, “When the machines falter, a cosmonaut must be ready to take matters into their own hands and handle everything personally. We are always polishing our skills. During our preparations on Baykonur, we do drills of manual space-link every day, and we also rehearse manual descent before leaving the station for Earth.”

The flight engineer added that everyone gets trained in everything despite their nominal positions, “A universal cosmonaut must be ready to work with the equipment, shoot and edit videos, perform procedures in the open space, steer the ship, and provide first aid.”

Applications to the space squad are accepted from individuals aged under 35. A candidate must have sound health, an engineering diploma, work experience, excellent learning skills, and an ability to handle complex technological systems. The interviewee said that first-time cosmonauts always plant a tree at Baykonur.

Kud-Sverchkov noted that many cosmonauts are so concentrated on work when they are in the open space that they don’t even have time to look around. He shared his impression from the experience, “There is emptiness and blackness for billions of kilometers around, and the Earth hangs in this blackness and emptiness through some unfathomable force.” He said that he really cannot forget the impact of his first realization that nothing except a helmet and a pair of gloves protects him from the vastness of space.

The visitor noted that his personal preparation for the expedition took ten years, “You should be ready not only for trouble but also for a lucky chance. We are accustomed to preparing for hardship in order to overcome it, but we also need to be ready for a good opportunity.”