Russia- He’s “coming home on that Soyuz”
Despite sanctions, NASA-Russian partnership continues
Thanks for finding Full Throttle. Please share and subscribe here. Full Throttle posts twice a week. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin.
Astronaut Mark Vande Hei should be celebrating. Yesterday he set the American record for continuous time in space, hitting 340 days and surpassing Scott Kelly’s record. Vande Hei is set to return to Earth in two weeks.
Instead of marking his feat, most discussion about Vande Hei is whether the Russian space agency will live up to its commitments to the International Space Station (ISS) and give him a ride home. The rhetoric has been heated in light of the sanctions against the country for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Scott Kelly has played a prominent role in that back and forth on social media on statements by the Russians.
NASA ISS Program Manager Joel Mantalbano speaks to reporters about commitments from Roscosmos. (Credit: NASA)
STILL COOPERATING
NASA has said that despite the tensions caused by the war in Ukraine, it has continued to operate with its colleagues at Roscosmos. NASA says it has been assured their astronaut will return home as planned. “I can tell you for sure Mark is coming home on that Soyuz. We are in communication with our Russian colleagues. There's no fuzz on that,” ISS Program Manager Joel Montalbano told reporters Monday.
A Russian news organization posted this video on Telegram saying it was produced by the Russian space agency Roscosmos. (Credit: Twitter)
Vande Hei is scheduled (March 30) to climb into the Soyuz with the two Russian cosmonauts on board- current ISS commander Anton Shkaplerov, and Pyotr Dubrov. They will strap in just weeks after the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, released a video implying the cosmonauts might leave the ISS and Vande Hei behind. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. One of Roscosmos’ largest funders for the past decade is NASA, which reportedly has paid $90 million for a Soyuz roundtrip.
In an interview, Mark Vande Hei speaks about learning about the hostilities in Ukraine. (Credit: NASA)
RELATIONS ONBOARD ISS
Vande Hei was asked a couple weeks ago by CBS’s Bill Harwood about relations on board. Vande Hei says it was Anton, the commander, who shared the news about the invasion. “He told us about some of the things that are going on and we didn’t really get into any of the feelings of how we felt about it,” the astronaut said. He then spoke warmly of his relationships with the cosmonauts he has served with, “I will cherish the friendships I have,” he said, adding, “They are wonderful human beings.”
NASA says it will follow its established procedure for picking up an astronaut who returns on a Soyuz. “We continue to plan the pickup Mark Vande Hei with the NASA plane, like we've always done,” Montalbano explained. That means a team will enter closed Russian airspace, land, pick up Vande Hei, and fly back out. “We have a contingent of just under 20 people that support a landing,” Montalbano said. “We’re following the same process,” he said.
Mantalbano says NASA will follow its procedures in picking up Vande Hei when he returns on a Russian Soyuz. (Credit: NASA)
CREW SWAP
NASA says it is also continuing cooperation on what is called the “crew swap” program. NASA is giving rides to cosmonauts in exchange for future rides on Soyuz spacecraft. Cosmonauts are training in California to ride the SpaceX Dragon while astronauts are in Russia’s Star City undergoing training. “Today we are continuing to work those agreements,” Montalbano said.
Montlabano explains that the "crew swap" program between NASA and Roscosmos is still active. (Credit: NASA)
Both the ISS Program Manager and the record-breaking astronaut seem a bit sad their cooperative effort in space has been caught up in international tensions. Montalbano says the ISS is dependent on both countries contributing. “The International Space Station, I’ll tell ya, has been a flagship model for international cooperation,” he said.
Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov aboard the ISS. (Credit: NASA)
For Vande Hei it is personal. He works and often eats with his fellow spacefarers. He says the ISS is, “a great sign of how successful we can be when we get to know each other and do things that are cooperative rather than find points of conflict.”
(Cover photo credit: NASA)