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A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have been set to depart the Worldwide House Station (ISS) collectively on a Soyuz capsule again to Earth on Wednesday, regardless of heightened U.S.-Russian antagonism over the struggle in Ukraine.
The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and his cosmonaut friends Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov was scheduled to undock from ISS at 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT) and make a parachute touchdown in central Kazakhstan practically 5 hours later.
The touchdown zone lies roughly 250 miles (400 km) to the northeast of Russia’s house launch facility on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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Vande Hei, 55, finishing his second ISS mission, could have logged a U.S. space-endurance document of 355 consecutive days in orbit, surpassing the earlier 340-day document set by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016, in line with NASA.
The all-time world document for 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.
Dubrov, 40, who launched to the ISS with Vande Hei final April from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, will likely be finishing his first spaceflight, sharing 5,680 Earth orbits and greater than 150 million miles in house with Vande Hei, NASA mentioned.
Shkaplerov, 50, simply 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.
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SPACE RELATIONS TESTED
The joint U.S.-Russian return flight from ISS was carefully watched for indicators that escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over the Russian invasion of Ukraine have spilled over into longtime cooperation in house between the 2 former Chilly Struggle adversaries.
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 Moscow that he mentioned have been designed to “degrade” Russia’s aerospace trade, together with its house program.
Dmitry Rogozin, director-general of Russian house company Roscosmos, then lashed out in a sequence of Twitter posts suggesting the U.S. sanctions may “destroy” ISS teamwork and result in the house station falling out of orbit.
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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 may use “broomsticks” to get to orbit.
NASA, for its half, has mentioned that U.S. and Russian ISS crew members have been nicely conscious of occasions on Earth however are working professionally collectively with out pressure.
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The three returning ISS crew have 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 later dismissed Western media studies 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 assist of Ukraine. They have been greeted warmly, with hugs and handshakes.
“Generally yellow is simply yellow,” Roscosmos’s press service mentioned on its Telegram channel. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles)
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