The Prague Post - In space, Russians and Americans remain 'dear friends': astronaut

EUR -
AED 4.297386
AFN 80.467794
ALL 97.872991
AMD 449.276016
ANG 2.093835
AOA 1072.87855
ARS 1467.774
AUD 1.79417
AWG 2.105977
AZN 1.99308
BAM 1.95526
BBD 2.362148
BDT 142.610645
BGN 1.95341
BHD 0.441082
BIF 3485.738063
BMD 1.169987
BND 1.498686
BOB 8.083769
BRL 6.389882
BSD 1.170177
BTN 100.206347
BWP 15.630686
BYN 3.828643
BYR 22931.747673
BZD 2.349951
CAD 1.603134
CDF 3376.582946
CHF 0.932365
CLF 0.028717
CLP 1101.998998
CNY 8.393546
CNH 8.406738
COP 4735.253796
CRC 590.037171
CUC 1.169987
CUP 31.004659
CVE 110.234579
CZK 24.625904
DJF 208.332508
DKK 7.460961
DOP 70.150641
DZD 151.929827
EGP 57.984618
ERN 17.549807
ETB 162.324104
FJD 2.632178
FKP 0.862008
GBP 0.861461
GEL 3.170538
GGP 0.862008
GHS 12.196634
GIP 0.862008
GMD 83.658829
GNF 10152.198363
GTQ 8.991519
GYD 244.652485
HKD 9.184381
HNL 30.591558
HRK 7.536123
HTG 153.547626
HUF 400.232743
IDR 19026.213647
ILS 3.896431
IMP 0.862008
INR 100.28843
IQD 1532.577065
IRR 49285.708304
ISK 143.592463
JEP 0.862008
JMD 187.01839
JOD 0.829496
JPY 171.614881
KES 151.302566
KGS 102.315607
KHR 4697.703605
KMF 491.981368
KPW 1052.96269
KRW 1610.124358
KWD 0.357431
KYD 0.974931
KZT 606.702572
LAK 25207.043774
LBP 104823.272594
LKR 351.71294
LRD 234.565269
LSL 20.853045
LTL 3.454667
LVL 0.707714
LYD 6.327254
MAD 10.536492
MDL 19.829528
MGA 5178.570903
MKD 61.560368
MMK 2456.396613
MNT 4198.568016
MOP 9.45949
MRU 46.609138
MUR 52.988436
MVR 18.008171
MWK 2028.640169
MXN 21.750529
MYR 4.973033
MZN 74.832044
NAD 20.853045
NGN 1791.413783
NIO 43.04812
NOK 11.832671
NPR 160.329755
NZD 1.954352
OMR 0.449862
PAB 1.169877
PEN 4.153154
PGK 4.907646
PHP 66.185592
PKR 332.690889
PLN 4.239363
PYG 9067.497701
QAR 4.265823
RON 5.07751
RSD 117.146123
RUB 91.553884
RWF 1690.533474
SAR 4.388258
SBD 9.754094
SCR 17.167074
SDG 702.586203
SEK 11.164573
SGD 1.49914
SHP 0.919426
SLE 26.319802
SLL 24534.049329
SOS 668.615486
SRD 43.668022
STD 24216.371317
SVC 10.236175
SYP 15212.324544
SZL 20.852246
THB 38.284904
TJS 11.318776
TMT 4.106655
TND 3.421656
TOP 2.740225
TRY 46.847337
TTD 7.943808
TWD 34.138818
TZS 3074.142413
UAH 48.899605
UGX 4199.840997
USD 1.169987
UYU 47.326939
UZS 14871.895898
VES 131.375283
VND 30582.293491
VUV 139.584055
WST 3.221398
XAF 655.77603
XAG 0.032055
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.161949
XDR 0.814409
XOF 655.77603
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.961125
ZAR 20.869148
ZMK 10531.287412
ZMW 28.458147
ZWL 376.735377
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

In space, Russians and Americans remain 'dear friends': astronaut
In space, Russians and Americans remain 'dear friends': astronaut

In space, Russians and Americans remain 'dear friends': astronaut

After nearly a week back on Earth, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei said Tuesday the relationship between US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts remained positive while on board the International Space Station, despite their countries' animosity over Moscow's February invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Text size:

Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan last Wednesday in a Russian capsule, along with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.

"About my relationship with my Russian crewmates, they were, are and will continue to be very dear friends of mine," the American Vande Hei said during a press conference in Texas Tuesday.

"We supported each other throughout everything," he said. "And I never had any concerns about my ability to continue working with them."

Vande Hei said the Russian invasion of Ukraine was discussed on board the ISS, but "it was largely how they felt about things and those are things that I would prefer that they get to share directly."

Moscow and Washington jointly manage the ISS, and NASA has said cooperation between the two countries' space programs has so far remained unaffected by their governments' friction.

But Russian space authority head Dmitry Rogozin has been ramping up incendiary rhetoric on Twitter for weeks.

"If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from uncontrolled deorbiting and falling on US or European territory?" Rogozin wrote in a February tweet -- noting that the station does not fly over much of Russia.

Vande Hei said he has stayed away from social media, but heard about some of the tweets from his wife.

"I just had too much confidence in our cooperation to date, to take that those tweets as anything but something that was meant for a different audience than myself," he said.

The 55-year-old now holds the record for the American who has spent the most consecutive days in space, at 355 days.

He said his legs were a bit "wobbly" for his first eight hours back on solid ground, but he is adjusting quickly to life back on Earth.

"I'm a little disappointed with how normal it feels. I kind of want it to seem more strange being back," he said.

"I'm still uncomfortable, but humans are very adaptable."

The goal for the extended mission was to observe the effects of prolonged exposure to a space environment on humans in preparation for future missions -- like going to Mars, for example.

"My body is part of the experiment," Vande Hei remarked, adding that he hopes his record time in space is soon broken.

The record for the longest space journey for any human belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days on board the Mir station in 1994 and 1995.

A.Novak--TPP