ALMATY, (Kazakhstan): A record-breaking US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts reached Earth Wednesday, with tensions between Moscow and the West soaring over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said.
“The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth,” Roscosmos said after footage showed the Soyuz descent module touching down at the expected time of 1128 GMT.
NASA’s Mark Vande Hei is returning after setting a new record for the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut, clocking 355 days aboard the International Space Station.
Vande Hei is joined by cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov, with whom he blasted off from Baikonur in April last year, and who now holds the record for the longest mission by a Russian at the ISS.
Anton Shkaplerov, who is rounding off a standard six-month mission, is the third member of the returning crew.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have been in tatters since the Kremlin launched an invasion of Ukraine last month, killing thousands and forcing four million people to flee the country.
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