NASA thanks Russia for returning astronauts safely to Earth

Video: Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and his Russian colleagues Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov on the ISS return to Earth

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and his Russian colleagues Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov on the ISS returned to Earth on March 30 aboard the Soyuz spacecraft as planned.

“Astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned home safely, thank you Roscosmos partners”Kathy Lueders, Deputy Administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, speaking at an online news conference on March 31.

During this mission, American astronaut Vande Hei broke the record for the longest single flight by an American astronaut with 355 consecutive days in orbit. The previous record was held by astronaut Scott Kelly with 340 days in orbit.

This return to Earth of the astronauts attracted a lot of attention due to the escalation of tensions between the US and Russia after Moscow conducted a special military operation in Ukraine from the end of February.

Despite US sanctions against Russia, NASA does not seem to change its plans regarding sending American astronauts to the ISS, and hopes the space station remains “international”.

Currently on the ISS are astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron of NASA, Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (EAS) and three Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov.