UH OH: The first news article I read this morning was about the failure of a manned Soyuz launch this morning. Fortunately, both astronauts are reportedly intact.
Per usual for Russian flights, the launch was from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. However, shortly after lift off, one of the rocket boosters failed during the ascent. That meant the launch was aborted, and the capsule had to return to Earth via a ballistic landing. On board were NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin.
Before the flight, the pair of would-be ISS residents were chilling in Star City, awaiting their assignment.
They had reached weightlessness when the booster failed, dooming their initial mission. The time of the failure was 11:42:17 into the flight.
Sure hope the ISS is fully stocked for the three on board it right now. They're going to be short-handed help-wise for awhile, that's for sure.
I was relieved to see this photo of them safe, after their emergency landing.
Expedition 57 Crew Returns to Baikonur
NASA caption: Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Hague and Ovchinin arrived from Zhezkazgan after Russian Search and Rescue teams brought them from the Soyuz landing site. During the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft's climb to orbit, an anomaly occurred, resulting in an abort downrange. The crew was quickly recovered and is in good condition. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Below, Cosmonaut Ovchinin is welcomed back.
And here's astronaut Hague and his wife after some harrowing moments.
All photos: NASA
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