6 May 29 , 2022Just Asking
“This is not the first time we’ve had
conflicts with Russia or the Soviet
Union during our cooperation in
space programs.”
Interview by KK Ottesen
photograph by nasaMark Vande Hei, 55, is a NASA astronaut whose recent expedition to
the International Space Station spanned 355 days and set the record
for the longest single spaceflight of an American astronaut. He lives in
Houston with his wife.When people think about astronauts, they think mostly
about space exploration, but with your record-setting 355
days in microgravity, I wanted to ask about your physical
recovery — its significance and what it helps us learn.
Well, when we eventually go to Mars, we’re going to have
quite long spaceflights on the order of this type of length, just to
go there, potentially. Mars is just a really, really far distance to
travel. It’s hard to even comprehend that distance.Would it really take a year to get there?
It could. I wouldn’t want to be quoted on how long — the
technology’s developing that could make it less — but the one-
way trip is significant. And then it’s a very long trip back as well.
All of that is without having a medical staff like I had when I
landed to receive me. So it’s really important for us to
understand what a human being can do after a lengthy stay in
zero gravity.A couple weeks before you were to return home [aboard a
Russian spacecraft], Russia invaded Ukraine, and tensions
between the United States and Russia escalated. You were
up there with two Russian cosmonauts. How did that play
out for you all, as human beings, as representatives of your
countries?
All of the above, I would say. We were part of a team. I have
trained a lot with my Russian crewmates. I spent my entire 355
days in space with Pyotr [Dubrov]. And they have been,
currently are, and I’m sure for the rest of my life will be very, very
dear friends. So on a human level, I certainly talked to themabout how they felt about it. I don’t want to give what their
answers were. But, you know, they’re human beings. And the
sources of information that we draw on to form our opinions
have a big impact. Information sources people use change what
their perspective is.You served in the military before becoming an astronaut.
Has that level of international cooperation with a so-called
Cold War “enemy” — you grew up in that era, as did I —
shaped your view of your role in the military or the role of
militaries generally?
I think, for a typical American, we don’t get the opportunity
to interact with Russians. And there are stereotypes we have
about Russians that I realized we’ve got some skewed viewpoints
about. Like, for a while, on my previous flight, we would, once a
week, get together and watch a movie. The U.S. support team on
the ground was really good about coordinating with movie
directors who were excited about sharing their movie with us.
Even before it came out in theaters, we’d get this latest
blockbuster and watch it all together. A lot of action movies. And
I realized at one point that all the bad guys were Russians.
It kind of gives me chills even thinking about it because at
one point, I looked at my cosmonaut crewmates and said, “How
does that make you feel?” And they said, “It’s kind of scary when
we see that everybody in the United States, the mass media in
the United States, is portraying Russians as the bad guys.”
This is not the first time we’ve had conflicts with Russia or the
Soviet Union during our cooperation in space programs. And I
think it’s really important that we continue that cooperation
because all the paths to peace, from wherever we’re starting,
always involve conversations. And we’ve got to have the type of
relationships where we can have conversations with people that
trust each other, in order to get to the places we all want to be.KK Ottesen is a frequent contributor to the magazine. This interview
has been edited and condensed. For a longer version, visit wapo.st/
magazine.Mark Vande Hei