NASA: Washington to Resume ISS Flights with Russia

The United States is set to resume the International Space Station (ISS) flights with Moscow despite the Russian war in Ukraine, NASA announced on Friday.

"To ensure continued safe operations of the International Space Station, protest the lives of astronauts and ensure continuous US presence in space, NASA will resume integrated crews on US crew spacecraft and the Russian Soyuz," America's space agency said.

Dana Weigel, ISS Deputy Program Manager, has previously stated that an agreement between Russia and the US on cross flights to the ISS is in the final stage of review.

"We're hopeful that we're pretty close to finalizing the agreement. It is in the final stages of review at both NASA and Roscosmos," she told a briefing on the upcoming SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon 2 flight to the ISS.

Last March, three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the ISS wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colors 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.

Asked about the suits, Artemyev said every crew chose their own. “It became our turn to pick a color. 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.”