Cosmonauts’ choice of space suits appears to back Kviv
THREE Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station wearing flight suits in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in what appears to be a bold statement of support for the nation battling a Russian invasion.
They were the first arrivals at the space station since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began last month.
A video showed the men – Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov, of Roscosmos, the Russian space corporation – wearing blue-and-white suits before blast-off on Friday.
But they changed en route and boarded the space station, wearing yellow suits with blue accents. However, asked about them when they arrived at the ISS – where they joined American, Russian and German crew – they did not mention Ukraine.
Russia’s space agency dismissed speculation that the flight suits were a show of support for Ukraine. “Sometimes yellow is just yellow,” Roscosmos said. “To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy.”
Eric Berger, a space journalist described the colour scheme as “striking” and noted, on Twitter, that flight suits are typically “selected and packed a few months before a mission launch. So it is possible this is a coincidence. But it seems like a very big coincidence.”
Whether intentional or not, many were supportive of the colour choice. Terry Virts, a retired Nasa astronaut, said: “Wow. Just wow. Well done.”
The International Space Station is a collaboration between the US, Russian, European, Canadian and Japanese space agencies.
The US and Russia have maintained a presence on it for more than two decades, but Russia’s space chief Dmitry Rogozin raised the prospect of pulling out of the partnership in response to US sanctions imposed after the invasion.