Three Russian cosmonauts were left ‘blindsided’ by the controversy caused when they touched down at the International Space Station last month.
The trio of cosmonauts wore yellow and blue suits when arriving at the space station in March, prompting speculation they were wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag as a form of protest against Russia’s invasion.
It was quickly clarified that Denis Matveyev, Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Korsakov were in fact graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University and were honouring the colours of the institute’s emblem, but nevertheless, they were ‘stunned’ by the media attention.
In a press conference held this month, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei - who recently returned to planet earth after spending 355 days in space - revealed the three Russians were bewildered by the reports.
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Vande Hei returned to earth aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft with two of the cosmonauts in question.
Speaking in the recent press conference, Vande Hei said: "All three of them happened to be associated with the same university, and I think they were kind of blindsided by it.”
He also shared that while the war in Ukraine wasn’t off topic, he didn’t have ‘very long’ conversations about the conflict with his Russian crewmates. “They weren't very long discussions, but I did ask them how they were feeling and sometimes asked pointed questions, but our focus was on our mission together,” he explained.
The US and Russia are the main two operators of the ISS and have manned it for a total of 21 years.
Cosmonaut Artemyev was quick to confirm himself that the colour of their uniforms was not a show of solidarity.
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He explained each suit had to be individually sewn, meaning colours had been decided upon six months in advance.
Artemyev said on Russian state TV: “There is no need to look for any hidden signs or symbols in our uniform. A colour is simply a colour. It is not in any way connected to Ukraine. Otherwise, we would have to recognise its rights to the yellow sun in the blue sky.
“These days, even though we are in space, we are together with our president and our people.”
Artemyev explained it was also important they wore yellow as ‘there was lots of yellow material in storage’ at the space station.
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Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos (Russia’s space agency), made a point of tweeting a picture of Bauman Moscow State Technical University’s emblem for clarity.
Topics: International Space Station, Russia, Ukraine