Nasa vows to livestream ISS astronaut return after Russian threats

NASA is planning to provide live coverage of an American astronaut’s return from the ISS.

Mark Vande Hei, a Nasa astronaut, and two Russian cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, are due to return to earth on Wednesday, March 30.

NASA will provide live coverage of an American astronaut’s return from the ISS.

The three cosmonauts have been stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

And now, the US space agency has said it will offer live coverage of the crew’s farewells, undocking, and landing from the ISS on NASA TV.

The farewell and hatch closure will go live on Tuesday, March 29 at 23:30 ET (04:30 BST).

The undocking can be viewed on Wednesday, March 30 at 02:45 ET (6:45 BST).

Lastly, the deorbit burn and landing is expected to be live-streamed on Wednesday, March 30 at 06:15 ET (10:15 BST).

Vande Hei and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off towards the ISS on April 5, 2021, while Shkaplerov launched on a Soyuz MS-19 on October 5, 2021. 

The astronauts have been conducting studies on cotton genetics and gathering data while aboard the ISS.

Vande Hei recently broke records for the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut after spending a total of 355 days on the orbiter – the previous record was held at 340 days.

To head back down to Earth, the three astronauts will first undock from the Rassvet module.

Then their Soyuz spacecraft will go into a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

After landing, the Soyuz MS-19 crew will split up – a standard crew return practice.

Vande Hei will be returning to his home in Houston, while the cosmonauts fly back to their training base in Star City, Russia.

The announcement by Nasa comes after Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin dramatically threatened to drop the ISS onto the US or Europe in response to sanctions over the Ukraine invasion.

Russian engines control the station’s propulsion and keep it afloat.

Writing on Twitter, Rogozin boasted to the West that the ISS “does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours”.

But space experts say his claim is incorrect, pointing out that the space station routinely skirts past southern regions of Russia.