A Reaching Stick in Space

Was reading a news article about a couple of "hams" going up on a russion spacecraft today to the ISS and figured I'd watch the "blast-off" since I've never really tuned into a Russion launch before.  They look pretty smashed together in the capsule, but I even noticed they have "reaching sticks" (for you Simpson's fans) to press the buttons during different phases of lift off.

Interesting.  They also seem to take their time before pushing to buttons to make sure they are hitting the correct one...