Russia to obey and return American astronaut to Earth from International Space Station

Although the bombs fell on Ukraine, the Russian invasion did not have much of an impact on the return of Mark Vande Haye home from the International Space Station (ISS). American astronauts and Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Piotr Dubrov landed on Earth with the Soyuz MS-19 capsule at 13:28 (Spanish time).

Russia jokingly came earlier this month – already in the middle of the war – with the idea of ​​leaving Wande Haye, because in addition to using a Russian ship to return, the voyage is coordinated. Outside Moscow, from the Koryolov Flight Control Center. The return was planned long before Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine.

Three astronauts crashed near the Kazakh city of Zhegkazgan, in the province of Karaganda, in the steppe region, where space modules previously launched from the Baikonur spaceport, as well as in Kazakhstan, but run by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Seven people remain on board the ISS: three Americans, three Russians – who arrived at 18 – and one German.

A symbolic and exciting moment was experienced before the return of the ISS aboard operation. American crew members staying on the ISS hugged their Russian comrades as they prepared to return with Wende Hay. Hugs between Russians and Americans when their countries are on opposite sides due to invasion of Ukraine.

Hugs in the middle of a war

Several helicopters were flown to the landing site by technical and medical personnel to conduct the first inspection of the expedition members. Wande Haye set a record for the American being in space, 355 days (15 more than the previous record) and since his mission was extended in September 2021.

NASA has not clarified whether there is American personnel on the team that hires the astronauts. “After the flight, the crew of the Soyuz MS-19 will split, according to standard practice, and Wende Hey will return home to Houston, while the astronauts will return to their training base in Star City, Russia. Declares itself on its website.

Controversial “joke” and reduced collaboration

On March 5, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti released a video montage prepared by Roscosmos, which showed two ISS astronauts undoing the module and leaving the US while singing “Proshchay” (“Goodbye” in Russian). The video montage has drawn criticism from, among others, American veteran astronauts such as Scott Kelly and Garrett Reisman.

Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin then called for a “joke” and called the Western media “hysterical” because they concluded from the video that he was going to leave Wende Haye.

In early March, NASA had already assured that cooperation with Russia on the ISS would be maintained. At the same time, US agency sources recalled that long before the war they were increasing their “operational flexibility”, ie trying not to depend on Russian ships to send cargo and personnel to the ISS.

The war destroyed many years of cooperation between Russia, America and Europe. Russia withdrew its crew from the Kuru space port in French Guiana a few weeks ago and canceled Soyuz launches to launch European satellites into orbit.

On March 17, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the suspension of the ExoMars mission, one of the most ambitious joint projects between Russia and Europe.

Lopez-Allegria returns to space

Currently only ISS collaboration is stored. In fact, the return of three astronauts today and the arrival of three other astronauts on the ISS in 18 marks the start of the so-called Expedition 66 relay and Expedition 67.

In addition, the ISS will receive on April 3 the visit of four astronauts from the first private expedition AX-1, which is responsible for the companies Space X and Axiom. The guest crew commander – who will remain on the ISS until April 13 – is Miguel Lopez-Allegria, a 63-year-old Spanish-American astronaut of Spanish descent. Lopez-Allegria first flew into space in 1995 and last in 2007, 15 years ago.