Extract from ABC News
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.
Key points:
- The cosmonauts have said they opted for yellow suits as there was "a lot of yellow fabric"
- Video taken prior to their arrival showed one cosmonaut in a blue space suit
- The conflict in Ukraine has resulted in cancelled spacecraft launches and broken contracts
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 (local time).
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 Mr 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.
When the cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth, Mr Artemyev was asked about the suits. He said every crew chooses their own.
"It became our turn to pick a colour," he said.
"So that's why we had to wear yellow."
Since the war started, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colours to show solidarity with the country.
Confidence space cooperation will continue despite conflict
The war has resulted in cancelled spacecraft launches and broken contracts.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has warned that the US 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 Mr Rogozin is putting decades of a peaceful off-planet partnership at risk, most notably at the space station.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson played down Mr Rogozin's comments, telling The Associated Press: "That's just Dmitry Rogozin. He spouts off every now and then. But at the end of the day, he's worked with us."
"The other people that work in the Russian civilian space program, they're professional," Mr Nelson told the AP on Friday.
"They don't miss a beat with us, American astronauts and American mission control.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei — who on Tuesday broke the US single spaceflight record of 340 days — is due to leave the space station with two Russians aboard a Soyuz capsule for a touchdown in Kazakhstan on March 30.
In April, another three NASA and one Italian astronaut are set to blast off for the space station.
Reuters
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