Record-Breaking NASA Astronaut to Return to Earth on Russian Spacecraft in March

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei of the ISS Expedition 65 prime crew waves his hand as he leaves for the launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster carrying the Soyuz MS-18 Yuri Gagarin spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei of the ISS Expedition 65 prime crew waves his hand as he leaves for the launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster carrying the Soyuz MS-18 Yuri Gagarin spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Alexander Ryumin\TASS via Getty Images

Space historians reflected on the nations’ long-standing space ties.

Tensions between the United States and Russia are elevated by conflict on Earth—but hundreds of miles beyond it, astronauts from both nations are operating as usual on their common in-space infrastructure, the International Space Station.

And in about one month, a record-breaking American astronaut will ride back to humans’ home planet via a Russian spacecraft.

“[On] March 30, a Soyuz spacecraft will return as scheduled carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov back to Earth,” NASA Spokesperson Josh Finch told Nextgov on Friday. “Upon their return, Vande Hei will hold the American record for the longest single human spaceflight mission of 355 days.”

For decades, Russia and the U.S. have partnered to push the boundaries of space travel—even when the counties and their leadership clashed back down on Earth. Together with certain other nations, the two run the ISS. 

Right now, four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one German astronaut are orbiting aboard that outpost. The ISS is divided into a Russian segment and an American segment. Essentially, Russia relies on the U.S.’ electricity and the U.S. depends on Russia’s propulsion systems in their cooperation. 

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced new and harsh sanctions against Russia, in response to the latter leading a still-evolving, large-scale invasion of Ukraine. He explicitly noted that some of the provisions were meant to directly degrade Russia’s space program.

Not long after those sanctions were unveiled, Russia’s top space boss warned typical ISS-centered collaboration might not be a given in this contemporary conflict.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or...Europe?" Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter. “There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?”

America’s space agency struck a different, lighter tone.

“NASA continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation,” Finch told Nextgov. “No changes are planned to the agency’s support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations.”

Exactly how these geopolitical strains will play out remains unclear, but space historians emphasized the nations’ deep and long-standing relationship around solar system exploration. 

“There's a long history. It's worked relatively well over the years,” Dr. Roger Launius told Nextgov. “At the working level, it works really well.”

Launius formerly served as NASA’s chief historian and as an associate director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He noted that international agreements—written documents that carry the weight of law—are in place to govern spaced-based cooperation between international entities.

In a separate conversation with Nextgov, Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony, a historian and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, echoed that notion.

“As part of the larger context, it is worth noting that nearly a hundred countries have ratified the 1968 Rescue Agreement,” or the United Nations Resolution 2345 Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects, she explained.

Post-revolutionary Russia—or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—and the United States had a variety of collaborative space projects throughout the Cold War, according to Muir-Harmony.

“The U.S. and USSR were even working on planning cooperative projects in 1962 in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the 1970s, astronauts and cosmonauts did not return to Earth on each other’s spacecraft, but they did train together for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project,” she noted. “There is also the story of Sergei Krikalev, ‘the last Soviet citizen’ who stayed on [Russia’s former Mir space station that deorbited in 2001] twice as long as planned because the Soviet Union dissolved during the mission.”

Initial elements of the ISS launched in 1988 and the first crew to enter it in space did so in 2001. 

“That crew had an American commander—but they flew on a Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station as the first crew to occupy it,” Launius said. “So, it's not an uncommon thing.”

For a bit after the fatal Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, the only way for Americans to reach the ISS was on a Soyuz capsule. 

“And so the American astronauts flew on those, both to and from. The shuttle itself was decommissioned and retired in 2011, after its last mission,” Launius added. “And between then, and the coming online of the SpaceX and now Northrop Grumman capabilities to resupply the space station and to do crew rotation, all of the missions to the International Space Station were flown on Soyuz capsules.” 

He pointed out that even in the face of the present, latest conflict, Russian officials are working alongside Americans at Johnson Space Center in Texas. 

“There are people who've been there literally for years in both cases. They're not necessarily astronauts or cosmonauts—I mean, they're engineers or technicians, they do all kinds of things. But, the programs are sort of embedded with each other and there's a good commonality in relationships there,” Launius explained. “And, you know, I assume what you're wanting to get to is the larger geopolitical issues, which, of course, are real. But at the workday level, there's probably less discussion of that than you might think.”

In his view, it’s not likely that there will be “much in terms of disentanglement until the space station is deorbited.” That could happen in the next decade—though, there are no concrete plans for it.

"And so as long as this thing's up there, we're going to keep it occupied. And it's going to be an international crew and we're going to have to work together or find ways to work around all that—and nobody at the working level wants to do that. I mean, people may grouse about, you know, if you're an American, you may say ‘the Russians are hard to work with’ on occasion, and probably they are. If you're a Russian, you may say ‘the Americans are hard to work with’ on occasion, and probably they are,” Launius added. “But generally speaking, the program is better off unified as it is than not.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.