ISS: Former NASA astronaut responds to Russian threats

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This morning, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, along with Russia cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov began his journey back to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS). Mr Vande Hei spent a record-breaking 355 days in space, and is now returning with the cosmonauts on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and will land in Kazakhstan later today.

This comes after weeks of tension that arose when a Russian official threatened to abandon Mr Vande Hei in space.

In a terrifying video posted to social media, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, cast doubt over the astronaut’s safety.

However, Roscosmos later backtracked, assuring NASA that they would uphold their promise and let the astronaut leave on board the Russian spacecraft.

The Soyuz shuttle undocked from the ISS at 8:21 am today, and at 11:30, it will fire its engines, allowing it to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere without burning up.

The spacecraft will make its parachute-assisted landing at 12:28pm southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, in Kazakhstan.

However, the war in Ukraine threatens to spill over into space, as Mr Rogozin issued a bizarre veiled threat.

In a tweet, Mr Rogozin shared a picture of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev with a quote attributed to him.

He quoted Mr Artemyev as saying: “In my childhood and youth I practised SAMBO.

“For me, this is my favourite sport, which has helped me throughout my life.

“SAMBO is education, a special type of character.

“In SAMBO you learn how to properly distribute your forces in fights, in long flights.”

Sambo is a martial art form that was developed in Russia that roughly translates to “combats without weapons”.

This tweet was in response to a statement made by NASA head Bill Nelson, who said the NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts will continue to work together onboard the ISS.

He said: “In the interest of the safety of our astronauts, the working relationship between NASA and our international partners is maintained.

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“This includes the professional relationship between astronauts and our astronauts.

“We have extended our commitment to the ISS until 2030.

“This decision will allow NASA to continue to conduct breakthrough research and collaborate with our international partners.”

Earlier this month, Mr Rogozin also sparked a controversy when he warned that the ISS could be sent tumbling back to Earth after sanctions were placed on Russia.

Russia provided vital modules that, if Russia decided to decouple from the ISS, could lead to the space station crashing back to Earth.

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