Fear for astronaut over Russia’s threat to leave him stranded in space
THE family of a US astronaut who faces being stranded in space by the Russians last night warned: ‘Our son does not scare easily.’
Nasa’s Mark Vande Hei is due to return from the International Space Station (ISS) with two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 30.
But Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has threatened to leave the 55-yearold father-of-two in space – or even send the space station crashing back down to Earth – in retaliation for the US supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
Last night Mr Vande Hei’s mother Mary, 77, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘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.’
Her son is due to return to Russiasupporting Kazakhstan after 355 days in orbit – the longest time a Western astronaut has spent in space – but Rogozin, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, posted a video on Twitter that threatened to leave Mr Vande Hei in space and detach Russia’s segment of the ISS, which would send it spiralling down to Earth.
It came in response to US President Joe Biden announcing sanctions against Russia which would ‘degrade their aerospace industry, including their space programme’.
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?’
In an exchange with retired US astronaut Scott Kelly, Rogozin repeated his threat, writing: ‘Get off, you moron! Otherwise, the death of the ISS will be on your conscience.’
In fresh threats last night, Rogozin claimed that ‘illegal’ sanctions could cause the 500-ton ISS to crash down over Western countries.
He said: ‘The populations of other countries, especially those led by the “dogs of war”, should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos.’
Mrs Vande Hei, a retired teacher from Minneapolis, Minnesota, pleaded for calm, adding: ‘It is really a shame that it’s been politicised like this. It’s quite a shock. His wife, Julie, is very worried in Texas. It’s very hard for her right now.’
Recalling how she and her husband Tom had joined their son in Kazakhstan in 2017 when he was launched to the ISS for his first sixmonth tour of duty in space, Mrs Vande Hei said: ‘It was wonderful to see people from all different countries work together. Mark has great relationships with all the astronauts and cosmonauts.’
Mr Vande Hei, 80, a retired information systems executive, added: ‘These threats are just one person speaking and, though it’s the head of the Russian space agency, all the other people within the space agency seem very co-operative. Our son does not scare easily.’
Elon Musk has offered to send his SpaceX rocket to rescue the US astronaut if the Russians abandon him. Nasa said it was confident Mr Vande Hei will return as planned.