Happy Nice Mall

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan with two Russian colleagues on Wednesday after spending 355 days in space.

Mr. Vande Hei and his Russian crewmates Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov flew home together in a Russian spacecraft under the guidance of their Russian flight controllers. Mr. Vande Hei was greeted at the landing site by a contingent of NASA and Russian personnel, a close collaboration between the two space agencies that continues despite Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine and the tension this has caused between Moscow and the West.

The descent to the grassy plain took place at 17:28 local time or 07:28 Eastern time. Within minutes, three helicopters landed nearby.

The three men emerge in a world where cooperation between Russia and the United States to protect the future of the International Space Station can no longer be considered definitive.

The space station was supposed to be a marvel of post-Cold War peaceful friendship between Moscow and Washington, drawing Russia into the international cooperation community and preventing Russian rocket engineers from selling expertise to countries like North Korea that wanted to build better missiles.

In an interview with NASA Television last week, Mr. Vande Hei referred indirectly to the war in Ukraine when discussing the legacy of cooperation in orbit.

“This is a very challenging time for international relations,” said Mr. Vande Hei. “It is my hope that the kind of connections we have can be sustained and serve as a way forward in our attempt to find and advance peace around the world.”

But last month, Russia has faced growing sanctions, condemnation and growing isolation from Western nations. President Biden harshly condemned President Vladimir V. Putin for the invasion.

NASA has tried to stay on top of the challenge last month, with minimal wording saying operations on the space station were unaffected. But the ongoing military conflict could test Russia’s ability to continue working with Roscosmos, the state-run space company.

The Soyuz capsule descended steeply, but as often happens, winds dragged the parachute and pulled the capsule sideways. Within half an hour, rescuers helped all three astronauts exit the Soyuz.

Mr. Vande Hei was greeted by NASA flight doctors, public relations officials, and representatives from the astronaut office and space station administration. NASA spokesman Gary Jordan said there should be no deviations from the typical process for the admission of American astronauts returning with Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

The astronauts first sat outside and drank tea during the first medical tests. Mr. Vande Hei put on a protective mask but took off a pair of sunglasses, saying it was a nice day. While he and the two Russian crew members were transported to an inflatable tent for further medical checkups, Mr. Vande Hei spoke to someone on his satellite phone.

After staying in the tents, the astronauts will take off on a two-hour helicopter flight to an airport, where Mr. Vande Hei and his NASA colleagues will board a Gulfstream jet and return to the United States. About 24 hours after landing in Kazakhstan, Mr. Vande Hei will return to Houston.

As NASA and Roscomos worked together Wednesday to bring crew members back from orbit, their collaboration was preceded by nervous outbursts in recent weeks by Dmitry Rogozin, who runs the Russian space program. He shared a video suggesting that the Russians could outrun Mr. Vande Hei.

NASA officials carefully brushed aside what Mr. Rogozin had said and insisted that nothing had changed.

“The working relationship between NASA and our international partners continues for the safety of our astronauts,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in his NASA State speech on Monday. “This includes the professional relationship between cosmonauts and our astronauts.”

While NASA remains the mother, Scott Kellya retired astronaut who holds the record consecutive days in space Until Mr. Vande Hei passed recently, an American had a public feud with Mr. Rogozin this month. Stopped at NASA’s request.

At the same time, Russian and European cooperation all but crashed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. European Space Agency postponed A rover mission to Mars because it was based on a Russian rocket. And a British satellite internet company, OneWeb has canceled a number of launches It used Russia’s Soyuz rockets and shifted some to SpaceX rockets. He said he would do it in Russia. stop collaborative science experiments Conducted on the Russian side of the space station with Germany. German astronaut Matthias Maurer is currently a member of the crew.

The orbital structure of the International Space Station started in 1998 With the launch of the Zarya module. Funded by NASA and built by Russia, it is actually part of the NASA-led half of the space station, reflecting American foreign policy aimed at continuing Russia’s space program during the economic turmoil after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian and American astronauts permanently Moved to the newly developed space station on November 2, 2000and became the outpost crew and Since then, it has been managed by the United States and Russia with the help of European, Japanese and other international partners.