U.S. astronaut, 2 Russian cosmonauts return home from ISS

The Soyuz MS-19 space capsule carrying crew members of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, descends beneath a parachute in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan March 30, 2022, in this still image taken from video. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

ALMATY (Reuters) -A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after leaving the International Space Station aboard the same capsule despite heightened antagonism between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine.

The flight -- carrying NASA's Mark Vande Hei and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov back to Earth -- was being closely watched to determine whether escalating strife had spilled over into longtime cooperation in space between the two former Cold War adversaries.