U.S. astronaut, two Russian cosmonauts return home from ISS

By Olzhas Auyezov and Steve Gorman

ALMATY (Reuters) -A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts safely landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after leaving the Worldwide House Station aboard the identical capsule regardless of heightened antagonism between Moscow and Washington over the battle in Ukraine.

The flight — carrying NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov again to Earth — had been intently watched to find out whether or not escalating strife had spilled over into longtime cooperation in house between the 2 former Chilly Battle adversaries.

Russian house company Roscosmos broadcast footage of the touchdown from the Kazakh steppe and stated a gaggle of technical and medical specialists had been dispatched to assist the astronauts out of the capsule.

“The crew is feeling good after touchdown, in line with rescuers,” Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Telegram messenger.

Vande Hei, who had accomplished his second ISS mission, logged a U.S. space-endurance report of 355 consecutive days in orbit, surpassing the earlier 340-day report set by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016, in line with NASA.

Vande Hei, 55, smiled and waved as rescuers eliminated him from the capsule and medics checked his very important indicators.

“Mark’s mission just isn’t solely record-breaking, but in addition paving the way in which for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and past,” NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson stated in a press release.

The all-time report for the longest single keep in house was set by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent greater than 14 months aboard the Mir house station, returning to Earth in 1995.

It was the primary house flight for Dubrov, 40, who was launched to the ISS with Vande Hei final April from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Shkaplerov, 50, who was ending his rotation as the most recent ISS commander, is a veteran of 4 missions to the orbital outpost, accumulating 708 whole days in house, far exceeding Vande Hei’s 523-day profession tally, in line with NASA. Shkaplerov started his newest house station stint final October.

SPACE RELATIONS TESTED

Asserting U.S. financial sanctions towards Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authorities on Feb. 24, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered high-tech export restrictions towards Russia that he stated had been designed to “degrade” its aerospace business, together with its house program.

Rogozin of Roscosmos had then lashed out in a sequence of Twitter posts suggesting the U.S. sanctions might “destroy” ISS teamwork and result in the house station falling out of orbit.

The next week, state-run Russian information company RIA Novosti posted a video spoof depicting cosmonauts waving farewell to Vande Hei earlier than Russia’s ISS module detaches from the house station and flies away with out him to the applause of Russian officers at mission management, leaving the remainder of the station sinking decrease in orbit.

The clip, described by RIA Novosti as “comedian,” performs out to the Russian-language love ballad “Goodbye,” by Russian vocalist Lev Leshchenko.

At about the identical time, Rogozin introduced that Russia would cease supplying or servicing Russian-made rocket engines utilized by two U.S. aerospace NASA suppliers, suggesting U.S. astronauts might use “broomsticks” to get to orbit.

NASA, for its half, has stated that U.S. and Russian ISS crew members had been nicely conscious of occasions on Earth however had been working professionally collectively with out rigidity.

The three returning ISS crew had been changed on the house station by three cosmonauts who flew to orbit on March 18, becoming a member of the three remaining U.S. colleagues of Vande Hei and a German astronaut from the European House Company.

Russia’s house company dismissed Western media experiences suggesting the newly arrived Russian cosmonauts had chosen to put on yellow flight fits with blue trim – the colours of Ukraine’s nationwide flag – in help of Ukraine. They had been greeted warmly, with hugs and handshakes.

“Generally yellow is simply yellow,” Roscosmos’s press service stated on its Telegram channel.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, Modifying by Alexandra Hudson and Bernadette Baum)