Three Russian astronauts landed on Friday March 18 on the International Space Station (ISS). All three were dressed in yellow and blue flight suits, the colors of the Ukrainian flag as Russia has been carrying out an offensive in the country since February 24.
Outfits that surprised observers when they arrived at the ISS, raising many questions.
One of the Russian astronauts on the mission, Oleg Artemyev, was also asked about it while talking to his relatives. “It was our turn to choose a color. But actually, we had accumulated a lot of yellow fabric so we had to use it. That’s why we had to wear yellow,” he said.
In the colors of their university?
For its part, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has firmly denied the idea that its astronauts wanted by these outfits to show their support for Ukraine. “There is no need to search for hidden signs or symbols in our uniform. A color is simply a color. It is in no way linked to Ukraine. Otherwise, we should recognize its rights to the yellow sun in the blue sky,” they explained.
And Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin even argued that Russian astronauts have no sympathy for Ukrainian nationalists.
According to FranceInfo, yellow and blue “are also the colors of Bauman University” in Russia, the place of study of the three Russians.
The trio, led by experienced astronaut Oleg Artemiev, lifted off on Friday afternoon for a three-hour flight to the ISS. They were greeted by a team of two Russians, four Americans and a German, according to images broadcast by NASA.
Until recently, space cooperation between Russia and Western countries was one of the few areas not to have suffered too much from the sanctions decreed against Moscow after the annexation in 2014 of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
However, Dmitry Rogozin had claimed that the recent Western sanctions introduced against Moscow could cause the downfall of the ISS.
