At 9:21 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a Soyuz capsule leaves the Russian part of the ISS.

On board are the two Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov together with Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

He then spent 355 days in space, which is a record for a Nasa astronaut.

Four hours later, they land next to the Russian space center Bajkonur, where representatives from Nasa are waiting to receive the American.

Can see the war from space

But after Russia invaded Ukraine and a large part of the world is now boycotting Russia, cooperation around the space station is stalling.

Four American astronauts, one German and five Russians, are now working in a small area.

- Remember that the crew flies over Ukraine and can look down and see the destruction, the fires and the smoke.

It must be very tense, said John Grunsfield, a retired Nasa astronaut, to the journal Nature recently.

Holds the course at the space station

In addition to cooperation on board, Russia makes a significant contribution to the ISS.

It is their freighter Progress that adjusts the space station's orbit eleven times a year.

If this is not done, the space station will slowly fall down and eventually crash.

In addition, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been transporting almost all astronauts to and from the space station since 2011 when US space shuttles were scrapped.

Now, however, the head of the Russian space agency Rocosmos, Dmititry Rogozin, has indirectly threatened to withdraw that possibility.

In the Russian TV channel Rossiya 24 TV, he has said that "Americans can go on brooms to and from the space station."  

Lifts with Russian craft

Mark Vande Hi may be the last astronaut to ride a Soyouz spacecraft.

Last year, the private company Space X started sending astronauts with its spacecraft Dragon.

So why does Mark Vande Hei have to go home in a Russian Soyuz during a burning war?

- He got there in a Soyuz and has to go home in a Soyuz and his spacesuit is adapted for that.

It is not only possible to change spacecraft, says Kristine Dannenberg, who is responsible for space exploration at the Swedish Space Agency and is Sweden's delegate to ESA.

The other American astronauts and ESA astronauts from Germany on board the ISS have booked the return trip on a Dragon later this year.

Play the video to see how the International Space Station has evolved from a peace project to today.