Russia says cosmonauts' outfit in ISS was not in support of Ukraine; 'Yellow means yellow'

As there were claims by the Western media that Russian cosmonauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) wore yellow uniforms with blue trim to show their respect for Ukraine, Russia has refuted the claims, with Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, who is the director-general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos since 2018 and a former Deputy Prime Minister, stating that the groups had nothing to do with Ukraine.

Roscosmos press service stated that "sometimes yellow just means yellow". It also stated that the new crew's flying suits are emblazoned with the Bauman Moscow State Technical University symbol, from which all three cosmonauts graduated.

Three Russian cosmonauts wore yellow uniforms with blue trim which is the colour of the Ukrainian flag as they arrived at the International Space Station yesterday. Three hours after taking off, the spacecraft carrying Commander Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov docked with the orbiting station.

'Each crew member chooses a unique colour'

The mission commander, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, was asked about the suits at a live-streamed press conference from the ISS on Friday, to which he stated that each crew member chooses a unique colour and that it was time for them to choose a colour, according to Mirror. He further said that they had a lot of yellow cloth and needed to use it up and that is why they wore a yellow suit.

Several seasoned astronauts interpreted the costume as a message to Ukraine after Russia invaded the former Soviet nation on February 24. Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who spent a year on the space station with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko from March 2015 to March 2016 stated that three Russian cosmonauts just arrived with the International Space Station in Ukrainian yellow.

US sanctions imposed on Russia might degrade ISS collaboration

In the meanwhile, Dmitry Rogozin stated that US sanctions enacted in response to the invasion might degrade ISS collaboration and cause the space station to fall out of orbit. NASA officials, on the other hand, stated that crew members from the United States and Russia are aware of developments on Earth but that geopolitical tensions had no impact on their work in space.

Image: Pockocmoc