All-Russian crew arrive at International Space Station in Ukrainian colours of yellow and blue

The three cosmonauts were the first new arrivals to the International Space Station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month

The war has resulted in cancelled spacecraft launches and broken contracts. Russia even said it would stop supplying rocket engines to US companies

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Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev are seen during a welcome ceremony after arriving at the International Space Station on Friday. The crew emerged from the Soyuz capsule wearing yellow flight suits with blue stripes, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Photo: Roscosmos via AP

Published: 10:45am, 19 Mar 2022Updated: 10:52am, 19 Mar 2022

Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colours that appeared to match the Ukrainian flag. The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.

Russian space corporation Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off successfully from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at 8:55pm. Friday. They smoothly docked at the station just over three hours later, joining two Russians, four Americans and a German on the orbiting outpost.

Video of Artemyev taken as the spacecraft prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms they changed into were intended to send.

The crew of the International Space Station welcome three Russian cosmonauts, dressed in yellow, with blue stripes, the colours of the Ukrainian flag after the new arrivals docked on Friday. Photo: Roscosmos via AP

When the cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth, Artemyev was asked about the suits. He said every crew chooses their own.

“It became our turn to pick a colour. But in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it. So that’s why we had to wear yellow,” he said.

Since the war started, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colours to show solidarity with the country.

The war has resulted in cancelled spacecraft launches and broken contracts. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has warned that the United States would have to use “broomsticks” to fly into space after Russia said it would stop supplying rocket engines to US companies. Many worry, however, that Rogozin is putting decades of a peaceful off-planet partnership at risk, most notably at the space station.