Althouse: "Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war."

March 19, 2022

"Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war."

"Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory yesterday, joining the crew of two Russians, four Americans and one German. In an extraordinary move, the three new arrivals emerged from their Soyuz capsule after docking with the space station wearing bright yellow jumpsuits with blue stripes, instead of the standard-issue blue uniform. "

The London Times reports.

38 comments:

Original Mike said...: Did they change clothes on the way up? Are they planning on going home?; 3/19/22, 10:38 AM
Ice Nine said...: The three new janitors at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.; 3/19/22, 10:40 AM
Achilles said...: Good. The fast part is coming for Putin.

And when this war ends so do the excuses for the Biden Regime.; 3/19/22, 10:54 AM
Richard said...: Goo5 Lord. Can't get more in-your-face. They would know, if anyone, about accidents in space. Who wants to tell Vlad?; 3/19/22, 10:58 AM
Doc g said...: If they really want to screw over Putin they can land in the us with their new multibillion dollar rocket; 3/19/22, 11:15 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: I'm not sure how to take this. Yes, they had Blue and Yellow suits on, but based on photos the suits had a Russian tri-color design on the right breast and they had Russian flag patches on their sleeves. So is this a statement of solidarity with the Ukrainians or an attempt at underscoring Putin's assertion that Ukraine is really part of Russia?

Either way the usual suspects around here will blame it on Mitt Romney.; 3/19/22, 11:19 AM
effinayright said...: Anyone want to bet on their capsule's drogue chutes tragically failing to open upon their return from the Space Station?; 3/19/22, 11:21 AM
loudogblog said...: When it's time for them to return to Earth, they can probably slide over to the American side of the space station and claim asylum. Then call up Elon Musk for a ride back to the United States.; 3/19/22, 11:28 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Where'd they get the suits, I wonder? Amazon?

Did Elon Musk provide them? Wouldn't surprise me. Maybe they already have jobs lined up at SpaceX.; 3/19/22, 12:28 PM
Narr said...: Now that's good agitprop!

I hope their families are prepared.; 3/19/22, 12:35 PM
Howard said...: I'm sure Elon Musk would give them a ride back to earth if they needed it.; 3/19/22, 12:36 PM
stunned said...: https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1504953365196943367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1504953365196943367%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2022%2F03%2F18%2Fscience%2Frussian-astronauts-yellow-blue-flight-suits-ukraine.html; 3/19/22, 12:36 PM
n.n said...: 32 trimesters since the Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring disenfranchised Ukrainians. 32 trimesters that Ukrainians have been under assault, denied essential services, and under attack by a military and paramilitary Kiev-aligned axis. 16 trimesters since outsourcing biohazardous research motivated by democracy that dies in darkness (e.g. no press coverage zone) became a global compelling interest. Their empathetic reaction to coups without borders and transhumane activism is overwhelming, selective, and several trimesters late.; 3/19/22, 12:41 PM
gilbar said...: stunned said...
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1504953365196943367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1504953365196943367%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2022%2F03%2F18%2Fscience%2Frussian-astronauts-yellow-blue-flight-suits-ukraine.html

hmm, well, to Us it looks Ukrainian (of course, i'm just saying it looks like a nail); 3/19/22, 1:48 PM
Bob Boyd said...: In addition to wearing a yellow flight suit, Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, known to Ukrainians as the Bogeyman of Baikonur, also shot down 17 Russian warplanes and flushed the toilet over a column of Russian tanks on his way into orbit.; 3/19/22, 1:54 PM
BG said...: My bet is on the "Bauman University" colors; not support for Ukraine.; 3/19/22, 1:54 PM
Wince said...: This makes the Space Foundation's erasure of Yuri Gagarin look even more ridiculous and counterproductive.

The first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, has been stripped of his honours by the Space Foundation, which censored his name “in light of current world events.”

The organization, which runs its annual Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs, sees attendance of top-level representatives from the international space community, including 160 space companies, 100 speakers, and thousands of participants.; 3/19/22, 2:14 PM
Joe Smith said...: Big balls on those three.

I say give the Nobel Peace Prize to the woman who interrupted the Russian news program.

That took some nerve, unlike Obama who got the nod just for showing up half-black.

As for Gagarin...that is a farce. The man actually achieved something. It's part of verifiable history.

And he did it as a Soviet citizen...you know, the country that enslaved most of Eastern Europe and killed millions in the gulags.; 3/19/22, 2:40 PM
Scotty, beam me up... said...: If truly a protest, these cosmonauts just might want to ask Space-X for a ride back to Earth and ask ICE for political asylum…; 3/19/22, 2:48 PM
iowan2 said...: Looks like your in the right place, at the time, for the right reasons.

In the Sand Hills in search of Cranes, I assume. We almost were there ourselves this weekend, but opted out this year. On our calendar already for next year. Unless you tell us its a waste of time.

Eagerly anticipating your pics and dialog.; 3/19/22, 3:00 PM
Mark O said...: Wrong. Fake. Stupid.; 3/19/22, 3:54 PM
Jupiter said...: WTF?

Romney is behind this.; 3/19/22, 4:35 PM
garrison said...: Fake story, previous flight phots show the same suit, but as the "Caspian Reports" says, "nations are born on the battlefield and forged by stories"; 3/19/22, 5:34 PM
Gahrie said...: 1) Stripping Gagarin of honors is simply asinine.

2) The space suit thing is strange, especially given how belligerent the head of Roscosmos has been.

3) SpaceX has enough spare room on its already scheduled missions to the ISS to bring them and the American who rode up on a Soyez back to Earth.

4) The government needs to:
A) Get out of SpaceX's way.
B) Drop the SLS and Orion. Give Starliner the boot at the same time.
C) Arrange an agreement with SpaceX. The government gets the right to build their own
Starships under license. (For a small fee of course. This not only gets the
government out of SpaceXs hair, it means the government isn't competing to use the
Starships owned by SpaceX) The government then gets to bail out Boeing and ULA by
having them build the Starships.
D) Finish the development of the Dreamchaser as a lifeboat/spacefighter
E) Get back to energy independence, and start supplying Europe with energy to lessen
their reliance on Russia.; 3/19/22, 5:41 PM
Daniel12 said...: "The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colours of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from" -- statement from Russian Space Agency.

Of course that's the government talking. But how you really know it's not for Ukraine comes later from one of the cosmonauts:

"Every crew picks a colour that looks different. It was our turn to pick a colour," he said. "The truth is, we had accumulated a lot of yellow fabric, so we needed to use it up. That's why we had to wear yellow flight suits."

Wouldn't pick that lie!
Also they were made six months ago. This one was totally too good to fact check. Did they secretly have made or get sent Ukrainian flight suits in the last three weeks? And then either sneak them under their other suits or sneakily pack them? On a trip to SPACE????; 3/19/22, 5:47 PM
Daniel12 said...: Reuters link; 3/19/22, 5:48 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: Hopefully they don't get any Polonium laced Tang.; 3/19/22, 6:23 PM
n.n said...: Red, Blue, and White. Disinformation? Perhaps the Yellow represents standing with the Ukrainians who were disenfranchised, denied essential services, and under assault by a military and paramilitary Kiev-aligned axis since the 2014 Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring. 32... 33 trimesters in progress. Then there are the illicit biohazard research labs a la Wuhan, which not only Russia, but a global community, has a compelling interest to know its operation and purpose.; 3/19/22, 6:30 PM
RMc said...: The first spacecraft in history that will land in a gulag.; 3/19/22, 6:45 PM
effinayright said...: @ n.n:

OK, I'll bite. What the hell are your references to "trimesters" all about?; 3/19/22, 7:20 PM
Gahrie said...: @ n.n:

OK, I'll bite. What the hell are your references to "trimesters" all about?

That individual is even more obsessive in his opposition to abortion than I am. (Anyone who's been here a while will tell you that that is saying something)

Every post made has some reference to abortion. Every post.; 3/19/22, 7:48 PM
MikeR said...: Apparently the colors were chosen months ago.; 3/19/22, 8:08 PM
n.n said...: Gahrie:

Elective abortion (i.e. homicide, including murder, man slaughter) is a crime against humanity. Several million human lives annually, globally, for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes.

However, abortion in the general sense refers to terminating a process (e.g. life). The other references are updated for a modern context. For example, instead of a double-edged sword, which is archaic, it is double-edged scalpel. Instead have your cake and eating it, too, it is abort the baby, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon pollutants, and have her, too. Trimesters is a well know division of time that covers three calendar months. Again, updated for the modern model.; 3/19/22, 8:36 PM
n.n said...: #HateLovesAbortion

Hate loves abortion

Hate love's abortion

was actually inspired by #LoveTrumpsHate

Related, I acknowledge women's dignity and agency. I recognize that there is no mystery in sex and conception. That a woman actually has four choices, and a right to self-defense through reconciliation. Elective abortion a.k.a. planned parenthood a.k.a. reproductive rites is a wicked solution to a purportedly hard problem that aborts a process (e.g. human life) for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes.; 3/19/22, 8:51 PM
Narr said...: The truth of the cosmonaut colors is less important than the debate it stirs--sometimes things happen that make me think there's a Great Ironist after all.; 3/19/22, 9:30 PM
MikeR said...: Uh: https://twitter.com/AliceFromQueens/status/1505256514705051650?cxt=HHwWhMCy7eW03-MpAAAA
"Compiling a clown list of any big account that retweeted the blatantly fake cosmonaut story."
"I'm not even kidding. Send me the suckers. We need to database this sh*t."; 3/20/22, 7:35 AM
Achilles said...: So it is just safe to assume that every single word that comes out of the western media right now is a lie.; 3/20/22, 9:22 AM
n.n said...: So it is just safe to assume that every single word that comes out of the western media right now is a lie.

A handmade tale, with empathetic appeal, carefully crafted to inculcate a narrative, fit to braying at regular intervals.; 3/20/22, 4:40 PM