These colors appeared to be in keeping with the Ukrainian flag. These men are the first to arrive on the station since the Russian war in Ukraine began last month.
Russian space company Roscosmos cosmonauts OlegArtev, Denis Matveyev, and Sergey Korsakov successfully launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur launch site in Russia in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at 08:55 p.m. on Friday (11:55 AM EDT). Just three hours later they arrived at the station and joined four Americans, a German, and two Russians.
As the spacecraft was preparing to dock with the station, Artemyev was seen in a blue flight suit. It is not clear what message, if any the yellow uniforms they changed into, were meant to convey.
Artemyev was questioned about the suits after the cosmonauts were connected to their family on Earth. Artemyev said that every crew picks their own suits.
“It was our turn to choose a color. We had actually accumulated yellow material and needed to use it. He explained that yellow was why we needed to wear it.
Many people have shown solidarity with Ukraine since the beginning of the war by using the flag and colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Spacecraft launches were canceled and contracts broken as a result of the war. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin warned that the United States would need to fly into space using “broomsticks” after Russia announced it would cease supplying rocket engines to American companies. Rogozin’s threat to decades of peaceful off-planet cooperation, especially at the space station, is worrying.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson dismissed Rogozin’s remarks and told The Associated Press, “That’s Dmitry Rogozin. He speaks out every once in a while. He’s been with us since the end.”
Nelson said to the AP that the Russian civilian space program has other employees who are professional. They don’t miss any beat with American astronauts or mission control. We can still have a good relationship with our Russian colleagues, our friends, even though all this is happening up there.”
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who broke the U.S. single-spaceflight record of 334 days on Tuesday, will leave the station on March 30 with two Russians aboard a Soyuz capsule to land in Kazakhstan.
Three more astronauts from NASA and one Italian will be heading for the space station in April.
