message from space?
After arrival on the ISS: Russian cosmonauts show up in the colors of Ukraine
Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev in their yellow suits after arriving at the International Space Station
© Screenshot Roscosmos
For the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian cosmonauts have arrived on the International Space Station. However, it was their clothing that caused a stir: they wore flight suits in striking yellow and blue – the colors of Ukraine.
While Russian troops are continuing their attacks on Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense in Moscow is even reporting the use of hypersonic missiles, three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday for the first time since the outbreak of war. However, it is not the arrival of Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov that grabs the headlines. According to media reports, after docking with the ISS, the three cosmonauts wore yellow and blue flight suits – the colors of Ukraine.
Statement of solidarity in the ISS with Ukraine or other reasons?
Around three hours after their successful launch from the Russian spaceport in Baikonur in Kazakhstan, the all-Russian cosmonaut team docked with their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at the ISS, as shown by live images from the US space agency Nasa. There they met their two compatriots Anton Schkaplerow and Pyotr Dubrow, the four Americans Mark Vande Hei, Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, and the German astronaut Matthias Maurer.
As the British “Guardian” reports, Artemyev showed himself in a self-recorded video in yellow overalls with blue patches before docking. As can be seen in photos circulating on the internet, his two co-newcomers also wear the eye-catching colors:
But it is questionable whether the men with the supposedly unambiguous choice of color actually wanted to express their solidarity with Ukraine. After their safe arrival, the Guardian said, the cosmonauts spoke to their families. When asked about the yellow suits, Artemyev replied: “It was our turn to choose a colour. But we had accumulated a lot of yellow material that we had to use,” he said. “That’s why we had to wear yellow.”
Eric Berger, reporter for Ars Technica tech blog explained on Twitterthat the suits would normally be selected and packed months before the mission begins. However, it is possible that the three cosmonauts smuggled the yellow overalls on board. According to Business Insider, however, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, noted that yellow and blue are also the colors of Bauman University in Moscow – where all three cosmonauts studied.
It therefore remains unclear whether Artemyev, Matveyev and Korsakov actually wanted to set a sign from space.
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Sanctions against Russia weigh on space program
In the past, unlike this time, a US astronaut or an astronaut from the European Space Agency Esa usually flew with Soyuz launches. The US space agency Nasa has been using US spacecraft to the ISS again for some time.
The sanctions imposed on Moscow for attacking Ukraine have also weighed heavily on US-Russia space cooperation. Roskosmos had therefore recently left the future of the ISS open after the contract expired in 2024. NASA is aiming for a term until 2030.
The Soyuz launched on Friday bears the name of the Soviet rocket designer Sergei Korolev, who was born in Zhytomyr in 1907. The city is now in Ukraine.
swell: “The Guardians”; “Business Insiders”; dpa