US and Russian astronauts return to Earth from space station
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Follow topic:
ALMATY (Kazakhstan) • A United States astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts safely landed in Kazakhstan this week after leaving the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the same capsule despite heightened antagonism between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine.
The flight - carrying US space agency Nasa's Mr Mark Vande Hei and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov back to Earth - had been watched closely to determine if escalating strife had spilled over into longtime cooperation in space between the two former Cold War adversaries.
Russian space agency Roscosmos broadcast footage of Wednesday's landing and said technical and medical specialists had been dispatched to help the astronauts out of the capsule.
"The crew is feeling good after landing, according to rescuers," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Telegram messenger.
Mr Vande Hei, who had completed his second ISS mission, logged a US space-endurance record of 355 consecutive days in orbit, surpassing the previous 340-day record set by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016, said Nasa.
Mr Vande Hei, 55, smiled and waved as rescuers removed him from the capsule and medics checked his vital signs.
"Mark's mission is not only record-breaking, but also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond," said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson.
It was the first space flight for Mr Dubrov, 40, who was launched to the ISS with Mr Vande Hei in April last year from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Mr Shkaplerov, 50, who was ending his rotation as the latest ISS commander, is a veteran of four missions to the orbital outpost, accumulating a total of 708 days in space. He began his latest space station stint last October.
Nasa has said that US and Russian ISS crew members were well aware of events on Earth but were working professionally together without tension.
REUTERS
