US astronaut returns to Earth after record-breaking mission; Russian cosmonaut says, 'on orbit we are one crew

Washington, Mar 31: Despite escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine crisis, a NASA astronaut caught a Russian ride back to Earth yesterday after a U.S. record of 355 days at the International Space Station.

Mark Vande Hei landed in a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan alongside the Russian Space Agency's Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov.

Before departing the space station, Mr Shkaplerov said, people have problems on earth, but on orbit we are one crew.

In a live NASA TV broadcast on Tuesday, he said, the space station is a symbol of friendship and cooperation and future of exploration of space.

The war tensions bubbled over in other areas of space with the suspension of European satellite launches on Russian rockets and the Europe-Russia Mars rover stuck on Earth for another two years.