The mission of the International Space Station is canceled while a Soyuz rocket failure forces a NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to perform an emergency landing



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Updated Oct 11, 2018 6:21 AM EDT

A Russian Soyuz FG rocket carrying a cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut during its first space flight took off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, to get to the International Space Station. emergency abortion and descent to Earth. The Soyuz MS-10 capsule, carrying cosmonaut Alexey Ovchin and NASA co-pilot and engineer Nick Hague, made an emergency landing after a "ballistic" descent, a normal course but steeper than usual to the Earth.

The Soyuz descent module landed near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, a well-known step for support staff during the normal Soyuz returns. Recovery teams were in radio contact with Ovchinin and Hague and both team members were in good condition.

NASA's commentator, Brandi Dean, NASA's mission leader, said that even though Soyuz's crew would have been "subjected to higher G forces" during the ballistic descent, it is unlikely that the crew will be able to do so. is a "known descent mode" in which the crew would have been poured. The crew reported at one point, relayed by a Russian translator, that he was weightless, the capsule flying freely.

A Russian "commission of state" has been formed to investigate this incident. Dmitry Rogozin, managing director of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, said in a tweet "The emergency rescue system Soyuz MS has been running.The crew is saved."

Air-ground communications with the crew were interrupted, either because NASA or the Russian Space Agency chose to keep the loop private, or because of a malfunction during the rapid descent.

Veteran cosmonaut Alexey Ovchin was attached to the central crew module headquarters, alongside flight engineer and co-pilot Nick Hague, NASA astronaut, making his first flight.

This was the first incident to launch a Russian Soyuz recall since an abortion in August 1983, which had subjected two crew members to a force of gravity 17 times greater, while the capsule was removed from an explosive reminder. A previous abortion had forced another crew to land in Mongolia in 1975.

The only deaths in the Russian manned space program occurred during re-entry into orbit. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed in 1967 when the parachutes of his defective capsule were not inflated. Three cosmonauts – Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovoiski and Viktor Patsayev – lost their lives in 1971, after the depressurization of their Soyuz during its descent.

The Russians experienced top-level failures in various unmanned missions, but the two pitfalls 35 and 43 years ago are the only incidents of this type in the history of the Russian space program.

Thursday's mission began with a break time at 4:40 am EDT (GMT-4, 2:40 pm local time). Selling up east under clear skies, the Soyuz presented a spectacular show by gently accelerating to the space above a long stream of bright flames coming from its central stage. and four strap boosters fed with liquids.

International Space Station (ISS) crew members board the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Astronauts Nick Hague (American) (back) and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, member of the International Space Station (ISS), board the Soyuz MS-10 for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan , October 11, 2018.

REUTERS

Live television footage from inside the crew module showed Ovchinin and Hague quietly watching the cockpit screens as they were pushed back into their seats by the crew. continuous acceleration.

The four belt thrusters were dropped as planned shortly after takeoff and the flight continued under the power of its second stage base accelerator when the accident occurred.

The Russians regularly exercise at the lift and abandonment procedures and the Soyuz is equipped with several systems to ensure a safe landing at any time of the climb into space. But unlike a normal landing, recovery crews are not placed downstream of the emergency landing.

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