NASA astronaut Vande Hai told how the events in Ukraine affected the work of the ISS
American astronaut Mark Vande Hai gave his first interview after returning to Earth. In it, he spoke about his impressions of almost a year on the ISS, about the yellow and blue suits of astronauts and how the situation in Ukraine affected the crew members.
Mark Vande Hai returned to Earth on March 30 on the Soyuz spacecraft together with Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov. The NASA astronaut, together with Dubrov, stayed on the ISS for 355 days, setting a record for continuous stay in space among Americans.
The mission of the Russian-American crew came at a time of a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and Western countries. The Russian special operation in Ukraine provoked an angry reaction from many of them, which also affected cooperation in the space sphere. In particular, due to the disruption of air traffic between Russia and the United States, Wanda Hai had to get home from Kazakhstan, where the ship landed, for more than a day by a roundabout route - through Transcaucasia.
The American astronaut feels great and is happy with the mission to the ISS, the second in his life.
- he shares his impressions.
Now the astronaut is focused on rehabilitation after a long stay in weightlessness. As you know, after a long stay in space, people cannot stand on their feet for some time, but thanks to careful adherence to the training regime in orbit, Vande Hai was able to walk again just eight hours after landing. The astronaut also noted that life on the ISS is difficult from a psychological point of view, but meditation and concentration on the inner voice helped him.
Despite the efforts of the crew to distance themselves from politics, terrestrial problems were felt very clearly on the ISS. A striking example of this is the media reaction to the yellow-blue suits of cosmonauts Artemyev, Matveev and Korsakov, in which they arrived at the station on March 18. As it turned out later, these colors symbolized the Bauman University native to all three of them, but some Western media decided that the overalls resembled the flag of Ukraine.
"I think the guys who put them on didn't even suspect that people would perceive them as something related to Ukraine," says Vande Hai. "I think it was an unexpected blow for them."
The crew also discussed the situation in Ukraine, but this did not affect their relationship. Vande Hai was interested in the thoughts of his Russian colleagues about what was happening.
"These discussions were not very long, but I asked them how they felt, and sometimes I asked sharp questions," says the NASA astronaut. - But mostly we were focused on our joint mission. Speaking specifically about my relations with my Russian colleagues, they were and remain my close friends. We supported each other in everything, and I never had any doubts about the possibility of further work with them."
Vande Hai declined to comment on what the Russians had told him.
- he told reporters.
During March, the issue of continuing further cooperation between Russia and the United States on the ISS was repeatedly raised. In particular, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that he could not turn a blind eye to hostile actions on the part of Washington. NASA asked its former and current astronauts to stop swearing with representatives of Russia, because it could threaten joint work on the ISS. Rogozin also retweeted a comic video with the undocking of the American segment from the station, which caused serious concern to his wife and mother Vande Hai that he might be left in orbit. The astronaut himself said that he never took these tweets seriously, and that, in his opinion, they were intended for a different audience.
"I didn't spend a lot of emotions on them and didn't pay much attention. I heard about them, laughed and forgot," said Wanda Hai.
The next manned spacecraft will go to the ISS on April 8. It will be Crew Dragon, which will take off on a Falcon 9 rocket and deliver to the station four crew members of the AX-1 mission of the private company Axiom Space. Astronauts will conduct many experiments, in particular, they will test a prototype of self-assembling robotic structures.
Vasily Zaitsev
