Three Russian astronauts were launched to the International Space Station on Friday morning. A few hours later, their Soyuz spacecraft docked at the space station, and when they boarded the outpost, they wore flight suits in striking colors — yellow and blue, similar to the colors of Ukraine’s flag.
The Russian astronauts said nothing to suggest that their clothing was a political statement. Still, it seemed hard to believe it was a coincidence. The outfits that astronauts wear daily in orbit are usually understated. But recent crews from Russia have worn vibrant flight suits in a variety of colors during their arrival, including Yulia Peresild, an actress who arrived at the station in November in a bold red overall.
Eric Berger, a space reporter with the Ars Technica website, said the flight suits are usually prepared and packed months in advance, but replacements may have been added to the final items to be loaded onto the spacecraft.
Jonathan McDowell, a scientist at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics who closely follows space missions, suggested the colors may be those of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where all three astronauts — Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov — were present. . A university official spoke as a guest on the Russian launch livestream on Friday.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has responded with a series of provocative posts on Twitter, including retweeting a parody video suggesting that Russia would leave behind Mark Vande Hei, a NASA astronaut expected to return to Earth. in a Russian Soyuz later this month. Rogozin argued in public with Scott Kelly, a retired astronaut who held the record for consecutive days in space by an American until Mr. Vande Hei recently passed it.
In public statements, NASA officials have ignored Mr. Rogozin’s statements and insisted that operations with their Russian counterparts continue as normal. They said there had been no change in plans for Mr Vande Hei’s return.
A pair of crews will be flying SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the station over the next month — one a private crew of tourists with the Axiom company, the other a mix of NASA and ESA astronauts.