An American and two Russians leave the International Space Station together

An American and Rossan left the International Space Station together aboard a Russian spacecraft. International cooperation in space continues despite Russian-American tensions on the planet.

One last hug before the flight back to Earth. US astronauts Mark Vandy and Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov said goodbye to their colleagues on the International Space Station on Tuesday before boarding Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, which is set to land in Kazakhstan.

A few days ago, NASA confirmed that the war in Ukraine will not have an impact, neither on the control centers nor on the International Space Station, one of the main areas of Russian-American cooperation, and that the return of the American astronaut aboard the Russian capsule will take place as planned.

Some analysts, especially in the United States, still fear a unilateral withdrawal from Russia, which currently takes over certain basic functions of the station, in particular the part that serves to correct the orbit of the orbital structure. On March 1, NASA said it was working on solutions to keep the station in orbit without Russian help.

But for now, the program is still busy: On April 6, SpaceX’s first civilian space mission will launch in the direction of the International Space Station. Four tourists will spend 10 days there.