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(Bloomberg) – Less than two months after sending an aborted mission sending two astronauts diving at 80 km deep, Russia is now preparing for a quick return to space. They take a Canadian with them.
The Canadian Space Agency confirmed Thursday that St. James, 48, will launch on December 3 for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, more than two weeks earlier than planned.
The fate of the Canadian crossing was called into question on October 11, after a breakdown of Soyuz rocket. Two minutes after the start of the flight, the rocket aborted at an altitude of 80 kilometers as she was heading towards the International Space Station and sending the capsule containing NASA. Astronaut Nick Hague and Alexei Ovchinin of Roscosmos in free fall. None of the two men were injured.
One of Soyuz's four first-stage engines "is abnormally separated and has hit the second-stage rocket that has caused the loss of stabilization," NASA said Thursday. The separation was triggered by a sensor failure related to an error while mounting the rocket at the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.
US astronaut Nick Hague, on the right, and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, members of the International Space Station (ISS) main team, greet their loved ones heading for a bus before the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket in the cosmodrome rented by Russia, Baikonur (Kazakhstan), Thursday, October 11, 2018.
Dmitry Lovetsky /
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The agency successfully launched an unmanned Soyuz rocket last week and announced Wednesday that it planned to launch two more before sending a crew to the space station.
The Soyuz rocket, half a century old, is currently the only way for humans to transit between the ISS and the ISS. NASA said it expects the first flights of the American crew to start next year in vehicles made from Boeing Co. and SpaceX.
The launch of the Expedition 58 crew next month will also include US astronaut Anne McClain, the US Space Agency announced, pending a routine flight readiness review. Saint-Jacques and his team-mates are currently out of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow in preparation for their mission. At the space station, they will join NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos.
Astronauts Anne McClain (USA), Oleg Kononenko (Russia) and David Saint-Jacques (Canada) sit down after the release of the Soyuz simulator after an exercise at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Friday, August 2nd. March 17, 2018. Russian space officials hope to be able to resume sending crews to the International Space Station on December 3 after the failure of a launch in Oct. a technical malfunction.
Mélanie Marquis /
The Canadian press
St. Jacques has been a lot trained for the last two years, and this for the first time since he became an astronaut in May 2009.
St. Lambert, Que. Native has been part of the rescue team twice in the last five months, including for the aborted Soyuz mission in October.
He is trained in space walks and robotics on the station. As a qualified doctor, he will also monitor the health of the crew.
Roscosmos plans to launch a Progress supply vessel to the ISS on 16 November. The three crew members aboard the space station will return on December 20, according to a statement from Roscosmos, a week later than originally planned.
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