  Gravitational waves carry energy, angular momentum, and linear momentum. In
generic binary black hole mergers, the loss of linear momentum imparts a recoil
velocity, or a "kick", to the remnant black hole. We exploit recent advances in
gravitational waveform and remnant black hole modeling to extract information
about the kick from the gravitational wave signal. Kick measurements such as
these are astrophysically valuable, enabling independent constraints on the
rate of second-generation mergers. Further, we show that kicks must be factored
into future ringdown tests of general relativity with third-generation
gravitational wave detectors to avoid systematic biases. We find that, although
little information can be gained about the kick for existing gravitational wave
events, interesting measurements will soon become possible as detectors
improve. We show that, once LIGO and Virgo reach their design sensitivities, we
will reliably extract the kick velocity for generically precessing
binaries--including the so-called superkicks, reaching up to 5000 km/s.

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena