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(CNN) –
Two minutes after his first trip to space last Thursday, American astronaut Nick Hague realized how well the flight was going smoothly. "That was all I was waiting for," he told NASA's director Jim Bridenstine on Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center.
Everything was going as planned. The Kansas native, chosen by NASA as an astronaut in 2013, was finally heading to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin was alongside him in the tight quarters of the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft capsule.
They had left the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:40 pm local time.
Two minutes after the launch, during the first separation stage, the rocket propellents are supposed to separate simultaneously and return to Earth. Their work is finished.
Then things did not go as planned.
Shortly after the launch, there was an anomaly with the booster and the ascent of the launch was halted, resulting in a ballistic landing of the spacecraft, according to a NASA statement.
"We were violently shaken from one side to the other and thrown back into our seats as the evacuation system evacuated us from the rocket," Hague said in describing which had happened. "Like everything that's going on, you're upset, the vision is blurry." I hear the alarm ringing and I see the red light at the place where the the engine had an emergency. I realized with force that we are not in orbit today, we have been removed from the rocket and we have to land. "
When the capsule canceled the climb automatically, it caused a shock for a moment. "I knew we were far from the rocket," said Hague. They were in ballistic return and descent, a landing angle sharper than normal.
The astronauts first felt the weightlessness, then an excess of G force, or force of gravity. The performer for the Russians said "6.7 Gs". Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted, "On a normal Soyuz entry, we shoot about 4G, but the ballistic yields give 8 or 9, depending on the angle and speed."
"Once these thrusters are over, we'll feel like we're throwing a baseball in the air, it's going to be on that ballistic trajectory," Hague said. "Weightlessness occurred when we reached our peak and were ready to fall back to Earth."
When the capsule fell to Earth, it had to slow down so that the chutes could open. Aerodynamic drag caused excessive G forces. The minutes passed and the G force began to "go up," said Hague.
The worst lasted about 20 seconds, he said. But they were trained to do this in the centrifuge, at higher G forces, for longer periods of time.
But it was not like his experience in military planes, where G tries to tear your blood off. Instead, they "came directly to us," he said. They pushed on his chest. He had learned to keep his chest open so he could breathe a good breath. Then he had to flex his muscles and essentially breathe with his stomach, using his abdomen to open the diaphragm to continue breathing.
The memories of this moment will forever be engraved in the spirit of The Hague, he said. "I remember that little debris floating in front of my face, looking up and seeing our Zero G indicators floating there and realizing," It must be what the space will look like, but not today. hui. "
The capsule was still under the nose of the rocket. For 30 seconds, they could not see outside, anxiously awaiting the separation of the cone in order to watch them sneak into the earth 's atmosphere.
"Those 30 seconds were the longest in the whole process," said Hague. His mind was full, trying to figure out what had happened, where they were, whether he and his fellow cosmonauts were doing well and understand the condition of their vehicle.
Then the practice came into play
Hague and Ovchinin have both gone from launching procedures to landing, preparing for what to do to get back on the ground in the next 15 minutes.
Yet, to listen to them talk about the recording now, they sound calm.
Learning the Russian language was part of the training of astronauts in The Hague. One can hear him speak in Russian while Ovchinin communicated what was happening to the control of the Russian mission.
For Hague, you have to spend a lot of time training through all possible failure scenarios, including a scenario similar to what really happened. But, he chuckled, "There were a lot of things I probably wanted to say."
"You realize that you are in a difficult situation, what you can do to give yourself the best chance of success is to concentrate, stay calm and do the things you have been trained for," he said. added.
After the G drop, the astronauts followed the standard landing procedure – which they practiced hundreds of times.
But they were not prepared for physical sensations. The Hague had scribbled a few notes during the training what to expect. Then he felt it.
"When the parachute opens, it sways sideways from 5 to 6 G," Hague said. "Before opening chutes, we try to collect the loose objects in the capsule so that they do not become projectiles."
Normally, while waiting for a landing, rescue forces circle helicopters to inform astronauts of their altitude. Instead, Hague was looking out the window and was trying to guess while Ovchinin was trying to contact relief forces in order to be rooted out.
Then, at the last minute, just before the landing, the rockets ignited to help stall and minimize the impact with the ground.
"It's the most brutal method to get back from space," said retired astronaut Scott Kelly told CNN in 2016 how to describe the return to Earth from the International Space Station. "It's like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel but while you're on fire." Hague said it was exactly what it gave.
Then, Ovchinin acted quickly by cutting the parachute so that he did not hang around. The crew landed south of the city of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The entire event took place in about 15 minutes.
"It was as if we had jumped two or three times, that we had tumbled and stopped," Hague said. "It was a tough race.When we skidded to a stop and looked out the window, I sighed with relief."
A similar landing has occurred now–Peggy Whitson, retired astronaut, during an extreme landing in April 2008. According to her, the Soyuz probe hit the ground so hard that she bounced, even though she did not know it at the # 39; era. "From inside the capsule, I did not know we had bounced back, it was just a big shot and a throw," Whitson told CNN at the time.
Hague and Ovchinin were all smiling, fecunding each other and making fun of the jokes on the short flight.
"We looked at each other and knew we had survived," Hague said.
The capsule had landed on the hatch that the astronauts are supposed to be able to use to evacuate. They were hanging on their straps. Rescue forces stated that they were not far away and that the para-salvors jumped as soon as possible to reach them.
A few minutes later, there was a pat on the window and the fingers formed the OK signal. The Hague gave them a big smile. He said the Russian search and rescue teams had "surprised" him with their response.
The Hague moved away from the landing with some bumps and bruises. The two astronauts were flown to Baikonur, where they found their families and officials.
"When I saw him at the airport, his personality was still brilliant," said NASA Director Bridenstine. "I'm humble and just happy, the training has paid off."
The investigation into the cause of the recall anomaly is ongoing. Tuesday, Hague went to Houston with his wife to enjoy the freshness of autumn. But he is looking forward to really going into space and having a successful launch in the future, no matter when.
"For a first flight for me, it was extremely memorable," said Hague.
It could have been worse, but it is still a trying experience for an astronaut who hopes to live in space for six months.
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