WASHINGTON: A record-breaking US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts reached Earth Wednesday together despite the tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth,” , Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said after footage showed the Soyuz descent module touching down in Kazakhstan.
NASA’s Mark Vande Hei is returning after setting a new record for the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut, clocking 355 days aboard the International Space Station. He is joined by cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov, with whom he blasted off from Baikonur in April last year, and who now holds the record for the longest mission by a Russian at the ISS. Anton Shkaplerov, who is rounding off a standard six-month mission, is the third member of the returning crew.
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, according to NASA.
Vande Hei 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,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
The all-time record for the longest single stay in space was set by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent more than 14 months aboard the Mir space station, returning to Earth in 1995.
The ISS, a collaboration between the US, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency and Russia, is expected to be wound up in the next decade. Last month, Roscosmos chief Dmitri Rogozin, an avid supporter of the invasion in Ukraine, suggested that Western sanctions targeting Russia in response had put the orbital lab in jeopardy.
“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from uncontrolled deorbiting and falling on US or European territory?” Rogozin wrote in a tweet last month — noting that the station does not fly over much of Russia. Rogozin has also traded barbs on Twitter with the now-retired astronaut Scott Kelly, who has been sharply critical of the invasion.
