Three Russian cosmonauts on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) emerged from their Soyuz capsule on Friday wearing the colors of the Ukraine flag.
The manned mission to the ISS is the first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Commander Oleg Artemyev and fellow cosmonauts flight engineers Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev – the first all-Russian crew in 22 years – docked with the ISS three hours after blasting off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday evening.
Instead of their usual blue flight suits, the trio boarded the ISS wearing yellow suits with blue stripes.
In a video released by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the cosmonauts can be seen in their atypical yellow suits in a traditional welcome ceremony onboard the space station, marking the start of their six-month mission in space.
The mission comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US over President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a “special operation” in Ukraine.
While many other planned launches have been delayed by the war, the arrival of the three cosmonauts to the ISS is a continuation of a two-decades-long co-operation between the two countries in space.
The ISS has traditionally been manned by an international crew mostly from the US, Russia, and Europe. Its current crew consists of four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts, and an astronaut from Europe.
Artemyev, Matveev, and Korskakov will be replacing Russians Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, and American Mark Vande Hei, who is scheduled to return to Earth in March 30.
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