--- title: "Space-Bound Cosmonaut: If I Meet Aliens, I Will Be Nice to Them" description: "Cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who's heading to the International Space Station next month on a Soyuz rocket, says he would be nice to any aliens he met." date: "2020-09-25" modified: "2020-09-25" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cosmonaut-meet-aliens-nice" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Exobiology" - "Space" tags: - "aliens" - "Russia" - "SETI" - "the digest" --- # Space-Bound Cosmonaut: If I Meet Aliens, I Will Be Nice to Them ![Cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who's heading to the International Space Station next month on a Soyuz rocket, says he would be nice to any aliens he met.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Come In Peace Cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who's heading to the International Space Station next month on a Soyuz rocket, got an interesting question at a press conference this week: What he would do if he encountered extraterrestrials in space. "I think that when meeting intelligence extraterrestrial life, we will exhibit friendliness, goodwill and consideration, just as we do when meeting intelligent and unintelligent life on Earth," he said, [according to Russian-owned news outlet ]()*[Sputnik]().* ## Instructions Unclear As *Sputnik* pointed out, though, Kud-Sverchkov's advice seems to conflict with what a separate cosmonaut, Gennady Padalka, said in 2012 when asked a similar question. Padalka [told Chinese media]() at the time that the United Nations had created "detailed instructions" to be used "in case of first contact." He speculated at the same time that "sooner or later we will meet our like-minded brothers" from another planet. ## Reality Check In reality, [experts say]() the chances of discovering life with a similar level of technological to our own are extraordinarily low — and that's on top of finding life outside Earth, which has not yet happened, in spite of a few [promising leads](). Overall, though, astronauts seem to be optimistic about the chances of eventually finding life among the stars. "I believe there is life elsewhere in the universe,” NASA astronaut Jeff Hoffman [told *Mashable*]() in 2018. **READ MORE:** [Cosmonaut Reveals If Russian Spacemen are Instructed on How to Greet Extraterrestrials]() \[*Sputnik*\] **More on alien life:** *[Researchers Discover Signs of Life on Venus]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()