World Taekwondo’s official flag was launched aboard Soyuz MS-29 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 14 July 2026 as part of the one-year countdown to the 2027 World Taekwondo Championships in Astana.
World Taekwondo’s official flag was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 14 July 2026, giving the countdown to the 2027 World Taekwondo Championships in Astana an unusual connection with space exploration.
The programme was organised by the Kazakhstan Taekwondo Federation under the leadership of its President, Kudrat Shamiyev. World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue joined the delegation at Baikonur, where the flag was placed aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft before its lift-off at 19:47 local time.
World Taekwondo described the launch as one of the first occasions on which an international sports federation had sent its official governing flag into orbit.
During the pre-launch ceremony, Choue formally presented the flag to renowned cosmonaut Sergey Krikalev for its inclusion in the mission. World Taekwondo stated that the spacecraft’s crew would photograph the flag while in orbit.
The flag is scheduled to return to Earth in 2027 carrying a seal connected with the space mission. It is then expected to be used as the official flag of the World Championships, linking the Baikonur launch directly with the competition in Astana from 5 to 13 July 2027.
The delegation’s visit also included the inauguration of a new sports venue intended to support the local taekwondo community. A statue depicting a taekwondo athlete holding a globe was unveiled and presented to the city of Baikonur as a symbol of peace, unity and international friendship.
The project highlighted Kazakhstan’s increasingly visible position within the World Taekwondo calendar. Astana had already hosted two G-1 competitions in June 2026 at the Martial Arts Palace named after Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov.
The Altaic Taekwondo Championships 2026, featuring Senior and Junior divisions, took place on 22–23 June. It was followed by the 2026 Kazakhstan Open for Seniors on 25 June.
Those events provided another stage in Kazakhstan’s preparations for a much larger international focus when the World Championships arrive in Astana in 2027.
The return of the flag will give Astana 2027 a distinctive ceremonial symbol whose journey began one year earlier at one of the world’s most historic space facilities.
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With Kazakhstan moving from its 2026 G-1 programme towards the World Championships, the Baikonur initiative has placed the country’s preparations on a stage extending far beyond the competition venue.
