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The Russian space agency Roscosmos has released footage Soyuz rocket launch that grounded at NASA Astronaut and Russian Cosmonaut last month.
The two crew members were on their way to the International Space Station when the Russian-made Soyuz rocket (the only way to ferry humans to the ISS at this point in time). An official report detailing the cause of the failure to be published today, but it is a question of how to make it happen.
The Soyuz is a multistage rocket, meaning it uses groups of engines that fire the Earth's gravity. At the end of the video released by Roscosmos below you can see the first of these engine internships detaching:
Usually, the four boosters fall away perfectly symmetrically (creating a visual phenomenon sometimes referred to as "Korolev Cross," after Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev). But here you are, one of the boosters clinging to the rocket, sending it to a spin.
The two crew members aboard the Soyuz sustained no injuries from the aborted launch, but did not experience extreme G-forces (up to 6.7 times normal Earth Gravity) on their unexpected, 31-mile trip back home. NASA Astronaut Nick Hague told reporters that the pair experienced a brief moment of weightlessness after the failure, before beginning what's known in the business as a ballistic descent.
"It's like tossing a ball high into the air," said Hague. "At some point gravity takes over and starts bringing it back down."
The Soyuz rocket is currently grounded and it is not clear when it is expected. And at the moment, there are three crew members onboard the ISS. Although they can not wait to get back to Earth, NASA wants to avoid leaving the ISS uncrewed for too long.
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