• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
NASA Astronaut Has Left International Space Station In Russian Spacecraft To Return To Earth

Home> News

Updated 08:58 30 Mar 2022 GMT+1Published 08:52 30 Mar 2022 GMT+1

NASA Astronaut Has Left International Space Station In Russian Spacecraft To Return To Earth

He's been in space for almost a year

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A NASA astronaut has left the International Space Station in a Russian spacecraft to return to Earth after spending a record-breaking number of days in space.

US astronaut Mark Vande Hei will return from the the International Space Station (ISS) today (30 March) with two Russian astronauts. 

Vande Hei, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov boarded a Russian Soyuz MS-19 and will land in Kazakhstan.

Advert

The Russian craft undocked from the ISS at 8.21am (UK time), ending the astronauts' mission aboard the ISS. They are expected to land back on Earth at 12.28pm.

Vande Hei recently broke the US record for the most consecutive days in space - having spent a record-smashing 355 days in space. You can watch him leave the ISS here:

Vande Hei and Dubrov launched last April - months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

When asked if there had been any tensions between the crew, Vande Hei said they had avoided conversations about Russia and Ukraine, admitted they ‘haven’t talked about that too much’. 

Advert

He added: “I’m not sure we really want to go there.”

While Shkaplerov said: "People have problems on Earth. On orbit, we are one crew, and I think ISS is like a symbol of the friendship, cooperation (and) our flexible future of exploration of space. 

“Thank you very much, my crew members. You are like my space brothers and space sister."

Advert

Earlier this month, concerns were raised after the head of Russia's Space Agency threatened to leave Vande Hei in space after US President Joe Biden sanctioned the country. 

Biden announced he was going to cut more than half of Russia's high-tech imports following, saying that the sanctions would 'degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program'.

Mark Vande Hei (Alamy)
Mark Vande Hei (Alamy)

NASA later confirmed 'no changes are planned' in regards to the cooperation of the US and Russia in space, where the two countries have collaborated to construct and maintain the International Space Station (ISS), but Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's Space Agency, responded to Biden's sanctions with fury.

Advert

Rogozin, who is a close ally to President Vladimir Putin, responded to Biden's announcements on Twitter and threatened to abandon NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in space.

He also threatened to detach Russia's segment of the space station altogether, and claimed the ISS would crash into America without Russia's help to move it away from space junk.

Former astronaut Scott Kelly slammed Rogozin's threats online, telling ABC News he was 'just enraged that he, the [cosmonauts], said that they were going to leave an American crew member behind'.

'I never thought I would ever hear anything so outrageous,' he said.

Advert

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: NASA, Russia, Ukraine, US News

Claire Reid
Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at UNILAD who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

4 hours ago
5 hours ago
6 hours ago
  • 4 hours ago

    America’s ‘harshest’ death row prison gives shocking new privileges to killer inmates

    One death row inmate has said the new scheme has given him hope

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Andy Byron's company speaks out after married CEO was caught with employee on Coldplay kiss cam

    The viral video has got people all over the internet talking

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Woman diagnosed with brain tumor after dismissing symptoms as a cold that wouldn’t go away

    Amanda Hyne, from Connecticut, initially thought her symptoms were down to 'mom stress'

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Harvard professor reveals the most important thing marriages need to survive

    Arthur Brooks, American academic and author, made his opinion known on a podcast last year

    News
  • Russia cosmonaut wanted in Ukraine for ‘high treason’ is hiding on the International Space Station with NASA
  • 'Alien' spotted at International Space Station as stranded NASA astronauts get ready to come back to Earth
  • Six physical health issues NASA astronauts face after nine months stranded on the International Space Station as they return to Earth
  • NASA astronaut captures footage of mystery green flash from International Space Station