NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov hug their International Space Station crewmates before boarding a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to Earth. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev closes the hatch of the capsule. NASA, earlier in March, said tensions linked to the war in Ukraine had no impact on ISS operations or the planned return of an American astronaut aboard a Russian capsule later this month. There had been fears that soaring tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine could leave the 55-year-old Vande Hei stranded on the outpost.

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