Political tension may be running high, but let's get real – friends will be friends, especially if they have a common cause for the whole of humanity. This was the message of a Russian-US-German crew of astronauts in the run-up to a joint trip to space.
A Russian, an American, and a German space traveler gathered Tuesday for a joint press conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. And no – this is not the beginning of another joke on nationalities, but the actual crew list of the 40th International Space Station (ISS) astronauts, who are due to be launched into space on May 28.
While space has long remained politics-free, NASA’s Reid Wiseman,
ESA’s Alexander Gerst, and commander Maksim Suraev of Russia’s
Roscosmos could not escape questions on how their personal
relations have been affected by the tensions between the world
powers on Ukraine, which have already endangered US-Russian space
cooperation.
“Because of the events in Ukraine that we all know about, the
relationship between the United States, Russia and Germany became
pretty tense. Do you feel this tension on the level of your
team?” a journalist from Russian TV channel NTV asked the
crew of three.
Instead of going into detail, the three astronauts stood up and
hugged each other.
“This is our answer,” astronaut Wiseman said in Russian.
“Yes, this is our answer for everyone to see,” cosmonaut
Suraev added.
The commander then gathered his crew for a collective selfie, promising that they will all be tweeting from orbit.
@Msuraev@astro_reid@Astro_Alex это наше селфи с друзьями на пресс-конференции. pic.twitter.com/ZWS2HGiIhd
— Макс Сураев (@Msuraev) May 27, 2014
Gerst also gave an insight on the trio’s relations, answering a
question from a German journalist.
“I think it means a lot if you look at our crew as not just a
team of three different guys from three different nationalities
or continents – we are actually a group of friends,” Gerst
said.
Not only did the three spend years training together, but they
have also spent much of their free time together, including at
Suraev’s dacha. Even the astronauts’ families know each other
well, the German geophysicist revealed.
“Space is without borders, we fly to an international space
station where we do experiments that come back to Earth and
benefit all of us – they benefit all humankind,” he said.
Celebrating Max Suraev's 42nd birthday...... pic.twitter.com/dXWF0JQ2bp
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) May 24, 2014
Adding to the connection and mutual respect amongst the crew
members is the fact that the Russian and the American both used
to serve as Air Force pilots.
“I really wish I had met Max 500 knots at the merge, [as] he
was flying a Su-27 and I was flying F-14, ‘cause that would have
been a lot more fun,” Wiseman said jokingly.
Это мы на Байконуре. pic.twitter.com/Lg4ZWqz2iQ
— Макс Сураев (@Msuraev) May 18, 2014
The crew is scheduled to blast off to space in a Soyuz TMA-13M
rocket on Wednesday and will take part in ISS Expedition 40/41.
They will spend some six months in orbit, returning back to Earth
in November.
The trio’s backup crew is equally international, consisting of
Russia's Anton Shkaplerov, America's Terry Wirts, and Italy’s
Samantha Cristoforetti.