NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei
(Picture: Getty Images)A US astronaut will be brought back to Earth despite earlier fears he would be left in space due to tensions with Russia.
US astronaut Marke Vande Hei, 55, has been in space since April 9, 2021, but fears were sparked that his departure from the International Space Station (ISS) would be jeopardised due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nasa confirmed on Tuesday he would travel aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts.
Joel Montalbano, Nasa’s ISS programme manager said: “I can tell you for sure Mark is coming home.
“We are in communication with our Russian colleagues. There’s no fuzz on that.”
The US astronaut is due to arrive on March 30.
Dmitry Rogozin, chief of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos had previously warned sanctions on Russia may prevent the US astronaut from leaving the ISS.
Rogozin said: “Do you want to destroy our co-operation on the ISS? If you block co-operation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit and fall into the United States or Europe?”
He repeated it in an exchange with retired US astronaut Scott Kelly where he wrote in a now-deleted tweet: “Get off, you moron! Otherwise, the death of the ISS will be on your conscience.”
The ISS is in-part run by the US, who controls power and life support while Russia operates control functions.
Despite the war, Mr Moltabano said the team continues to function and abide by international space law, saying: “All these activities have continued for 20 years and nothing has changed in the last three weeks.
“Our control centres operate successfully, flawlessly, seamlessly.”
She said: “It’s a terrible threat. When I first heard it I did a lot of crying. It’s very troubling. We are just doing a lot of praying.”
