<span style="color: #222222;">U.S. astronaut, Vande Hei to return with two Russians in the midst of deepening tensions between the countries. Vande Hei, who breaks the US single spaceflight record of 340 days today is due to leave with two Russians aboard a Soyuz capsule for a touchdown in Kazakhstan on March 30.  According to NASA, Vande Hei's homecoming plans remain unchanged, even as Russia-Ukraine conflict has resulted in canceled launches, broken contracts. Vande Hei, a retired Army colonel, moved into the space station last April, launching on a Soyuz from Kazakhstan with Pyotr Dubrov and another Russian.  The world record of 438 continuous days in space belongs to Russia.<br />''<br />''NASA wants to keep the space station running until 2030, as do the European, Japanese, and Canadian space agencies, while the Russians have not committed beyond the original end date of 2024 or so. The U.S. and Russia are the prime operators of the orbiting outpost, permanently occupied for 21 years. The U.S. and Russian space agencies are still working on a long-term barter system in which a Russian would launch on a SpaceX capsule beginning this fall and an American would fly upon the Soyuz. That would help ensure a U.S. and Russian station presence at all times.</span><br />