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A Russian rocket Soyuz carrying a new Russian-American crew bound for the International Space Station failed during its ascent on Thursday (October 11th), returning its crew capsule to Earth during a ballistic comeback, officials said. NASA. NASA has confirmed to be in contact with the crew members aboard the capsule and that they are in good condition. It will take about an hour and a half for a rescue team to meet the astronauts.
The Soyuz rocket and its Soyuz MS-10 space capsule took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 04:47 EDT (0847 GMT) with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin on board. The two men were to join the crew of three people from the Expedition 57 already aboard the International Space Station. But something went wrong a few minutes after takeoff, sending the Soyuz capsule into a ballistic comeback, NASA officials said.
"Confirming again that the launch of today 's Soyuz MS10 entered a ballistic mode shortly after its launch around 3:47 am Central Standard Time (4:47 am EDT). East / 08:47 GMT), "said NASA spokesman Brandi Dean, a live TV commentary. "This means that the crew will not be going to the International Space Station today, instead it will make a tight landing before returning to Earth." NASA broadcasts live commentary on NASA TV, which you can watch here.
"The search and rescue teams are always pre-arranged in case this happens," added Dean. Helicopters have already sent for the Soyuz space capsule, she said.
The crew returns to Earth in ballistic descent mode. The teams are working to obtain additional information from our Russian partners. Watch live updates: https://t.co/mzKW5uDsTi pic.twitter.com/kWigYS1gU4
– NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018
A Soyuz capsule carrying two astronauts took off at 11:04 am EDT on October 11, 2018, before a failure later in the launch sequence.
Credit: NASA TV
NASA did not provide much details on this failure, but confirmed in a tweet that there was a problem with the extra separation. Dean later confirmed the anomaly during a live comment. During the live broadcast of the launch, a comment from Mission Control suggested that the reminder was not separate from the Soyuz capsule.
Had the launch gone well, Ovchinin and Hague would have reached the space station later today. The Soyuz had to complete a short six-hour flight path that would have orbited the Earth four times before reaching the International Space Station.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow @meghanbartels. Follow us on Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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