US astronaut ends record space flight on International Space Station to a world torn apart by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Mark Vande Hei spent a US record 355 days at the International Space Station and returned with two Russian cosmonauts to a world torn apart by the Ukraine war

Three Russians who arrived two weeks ago and three Americans and one German, who have been aboard since November will remain on the ISS

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The International Space Station (ISS) crew member NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei rests after landing with the Soyuz MS-19 space capsule in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Photo: Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters

Published: 8:34pm, 30 Mar 2022Updated: 10:10pm, 30 Mar 2022

A Nasa astronaut caught a Russian ride back to Earth on Wednesday after a US record 355 days at the International Space Station, returning with two cosmonauts to a world torn apart by war.

Mark Vande Hei landed in a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan alongside the Russian Space Agency’s Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, who also spent the past year in space.

Despite escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine, Vande Hei’s return followed customary procedures. A small Nasa team of doctors and other staff was on hand for the touchdown and planned to return immediately to Houston with the 55-year-old astronaut.

Even before Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Vande Hei said he was avoiding the subject with his two Russian crewmembers. Despite getting along “fantastically … I’m not sure we really want to go there,” he said.

It was the first taste of gravity for Vande Hei and Dubrov since their Soyuz launch on April 9 last year. Shkaplerov joined them at the orbiting lab in October, escorting a Russian film crew up for a brief stay. To accommodate that visit, Vande Hei and Dubrov doubled the length of their stay.

Before departing the space station, Shkaplerov embraced his fellow astronauts as “my space brothers and space sister.”

The International Space Station (ISS) crew member Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov rests after landing with the Soyuz MS-19 space capsule in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Photo: Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters

“People have problem on Earth. On orbit … we are one crew,” Shkaplerov said in a live Nasa TV broadcast on Tuesday. The space station is a symbol of “friendship and cooperation and … future of exploration of space.”