ATS
The good understanding persists between American and Russian astronauts aboard the international space station, despite the total opposition between their countries on Ukraine, according to NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. He came back to earth a few days ago.
Mark Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan last Wednesday, brought back by a Russian capsule alongside two Russian cosmonauts, Anton Chkaplérov and Piotr Doubrov. The American returned to the United States. He was speaking at a press conference in Houston, Texas on Tuesday.
Russian cosmonauts “were, are and will continue to be dear friends,” he said. “And I never had any concerns about my ability to continue working with them.”
Threatening Russian messages
Mark Vande Hei confirmed that the war in Ukraine had indeed been a topic of conversation on board the space station (ISS). But the discussions were “mostly about what they thought about it, and I’d rather they could share that themselves,” he said.
Moscow and Washington are partners in the management of the ISS. NASA has repeatedly assured that the cooperation continues for the moment without incident. But the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, has been increasing his incendiary and threatening tweets for weeks.
Mark Vande Hei said he did not watch social media, but was made aware of statements by his wife. “I was simply too confident in our cooperation to date to take these tweets for anything other than being addressed to an audience other than myself,” he commented.
At 55, the astronaut now holds the record for consecutive days spent in space for an American, with 355 days. He said he had wobbly legs for about 8 hours upon his return, but readjusted very quickly to life on land.
The objective of such a long mission is to observe the prolonged effects of the space environment on humans, in anticipation of trips to Mars for example.
The record for the longest single stay in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days aboard the Mir station in 1994.
ATS