BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, May 28 (UPI) -- The next three astronauts to travel to the ISS answered a reporter's question about how politics will affect their work in space by sharing a group hug.
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Roscosmos cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and German astronaut Alexander Gerst held a press conference Tuesday before they flew into space and were faced with an inevitable question.
"Because of the events in Ukraine that we all know about, the relationship between the United States, Russia and Germany became pretty tense. Do you feel this tension on the level of your team?" asked a reporter for Russian television station NTV.
Wiseman then stood and said in Russian, "This is our answer." He and the other two men then shared a group hug.
The three said they are not just teammates, but after three years of training with each other and building relationships, they are friends as well.
"Space is without borders, we fly to an international space station where we do experiments that come back to Earth and benefit all of us -- they benefit all humankind," said Gerst.
Suraev also tweeted a picture of the three with journalists from the press conference that read "This is our selfie with friends at the press conference."
@Msuraev @astro_reid @Astro_Alex это наше селфи с друзьями на пресс-конференции. pic.twitter.com/ZWS2HGiIhd
— Макс Сураев (@Msuraev) May 27, 2014Read More
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