Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colours that match the Ukrainian flag.
They were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov, had a successful launch from the Russia-leased Baikonur in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft on Friday at 8.55 pm local time.
Video of Artemyev taken as the spacecraft prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms they changed into were intended to send.
https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1504973566277730307
Asked about the suits, Artemyev said every crew chose their own.
“It became our turn to pick a colour. But, in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it,” he said. “So that’s why we had to wear yellow.”
Since the war started, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colours to show solidarity with the country.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson played down Rogozin’s comments, saying: “That’s just Dmitry Rogozin. He spouts off every now and then. But at the end of the day, he’s worked with us.
“The other people that work in the Russian civilian space program, they’re professional. They don’t miss a beat with us, American astronauts and American mission control. Despite all of that, up in space, we can have a cooperation with our Russian friends, our colleagues.”
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