A senior NASA manager stated Monday that plans are still in place to send NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei home to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket at the end the month.
Joel Montalbano is the Johnson Space Center’s space station program manager. He said that the Russians assured NASA that Vande Hei, along with his two cosmonaut companions, will land in Kazakhstan on March 30. This was in accordance to plans before the invasion began. It was meant to complete a record-setting mission.
Vande Hei will be joined by Pyotr Dubrov (cosmonaut), who launched on a Soyuz-based Soyuz 9 last April 9. They will have spent 355 days in space and set a new single flight record for an American astronaut. Vande Hei will surpass the current record of 340 days in space, set by NASA Scott Kelly 2015-16.
Vande Hei will join Dubrov and Soyuz MS-19/65S commander Anton Shkaplerov on Earth to complete their 176-day space stay.
Montalbano stated that “nothing has changed” in the past three weeks. The control centers work flawlessly, smoothly, and we are not experiencing any changes to what is going on around us. “We’re able to do our jobs. We are aware of the situation, but we can still do our jobs and continue operations.
There have been questions about Russia’s commitment in continuing joint operations aboard the ISS, including the U.S., U.K., and European Union sanctions and the fiery rhetoric issued by Dmitry Rogozin (director of Roscosmos).
The space station is designed to work in cooperation between Russia and the U.S., with Russia providing propulsion and NASA providing guidance, extra electrical power, and satellite communications.
Although there has been a steady stream if vitriolic tweets raising concerns about possible US-Russian space relations breaking down, Rogozin dismissed the “hysterical” rumors that Vande Hei may be missing from the station.
Vande Hei was launched aboard a Soyuz and his Russian-made pressure suit was worn during launch, landing, and re-entry. It is not compatible for use with life support systems on SpaceX Crew Dragon ferry vessels.
Montalbano said Monday that he could confirm Mark’s return on the Soyuz. “We are in contact with our Russian colleagues. There’s no fuzz. Three crew members are returning home.
A NASA contingent of 20 flight surgeons and support personnel will fly to Kazakhstan on a Soyuz to perform initial medical tests. Vande Hei will then return to Houston to receive physical therapy and debriefing to help him adjust to gravity after almost a year in space.
NASA is gearing up to have a busy spring and autumn aboard the space station with many U.S. crews flying to and fro. NASA insists on the assumption that both sides will continue to operate normally, despite the fact that international relations are at risk.
Vande Hei will return home to Earth 12 days after another Soyuz transports his replacements — Soyuz MS-21/67S commander OlegArtev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov — into space on Friday.
Vande Hei, along with his crewmates, will land at Kennedy Space Center. A SpaceX Crew Dragon will launch from there to transport four commercial fliers into space for a 10-day stay in Houston managed by Axiom Space. This is the first NASA-approved commercial flight to the outpost.
NASA and SpaceX will launch another Crew Dragon in April, one week after Axiom 1 crew arrives on April 9.
Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines will replace Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron.
The crew rotation that follows is scheduled for September 1, when a Crew Dragon will launch with two NASA astronauts, and a Japanese pilot. NASA had been in negotiations with Roscosmos before the Russian invasion to fill the fourth space with a cosmonaut, and to send an astronaut aboard the Soyuz set to launch later in September.
This is in order to ensure that astronauts and cosmonauts remain aboard the station regardless of any medical emergencies or other issues. Unplanned departures could be made from the station without American or Russian crew members to operate critical systems.
Montalbano stated that NASA is pushing ahead despite the fact that Russia has not yet made an official comment about the status of negotiations.
He said, “At the moment, we still plan to work the crew switch.” “And so, we have still scheduled training for cosmonauts in Houston (SpaceX headquarters at Hawthorne California) and for our team to travel to Star City (near Moscow), to train for the Soyuz.”
