Russian investigators have launched a probe into why a Soyuz rocket failed shortly after blastoff, in a major setback for Russia’s beleaguered space industry.
US astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin on Thursday were forced to make an emergency landing, but were rescued without injury in Kazakhstan.
Russian officials said they were launching a criminal investigation into the accident, the first such incident on a manned flight in the nation’s post-Soviet history.
The Russian space industry has suffered a series of problems in recent years, including the loss of a number of satellites and spacecraft.
Officials said they would suspend manned launches in light of the latest accident.
“The emergency rescue system worked, the vessel was able to land in Kazakhstan ... the crew are alive,” Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a tweet.
“An accident with the booster, two minutes, 45 seconds,” the voice of Ovchinin could be heard saying calmly in live-streamed footage of the launch from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur cosmodrome.
The incident came as the rocket was traveling at about 7,500kph, just 119 seconds into the voyage, NASA said.
“Shortly after launch, there was an anomaly with the booster and the launch ascent was aborted, resulting in a ballistic landing of the spacecraft,” the US space agency said in a statement.
The descent was sharper than usual, meaning the crew were subjected to a greater G-force, but they had prepared for the scenario in training, according to a commentator on NASA’s video live-stream of the launch.
“We’re tightening our seatbelts,” Ovchinin said in the video. “That was a short flight.”
Rescue workers reached the site of the emergency landing and evacuated Ovchinin and Hague.
Photographs released by the Russian government and NASA Twitter accounts later showed the men embracing their families and enjoying a hearty Russian meal back on the ground.
Russia is currently the only nation taking crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The European Space Agency, whose astronaut Alexander Gerst is on the ISS, said in a statement that “the aborted launch will have influence on the planning for the near future.”
Stefan Beransky, editor of the specialist Aerospatium magazine and author of a book on the Soyuz rocket, said now “the main problem is that there are two fewer people at the station.”
“As we wait for the conclusions of a Russian probe, the Soyuz will perhaps be grounded for some time,” he said.
The Russian Investigative Committee said a criminal probe would seek to determine whether safety regulations had been contravened during construction, causing major damage.
“Officials are currently examining the launch site, documents are being seized,” it said in a statement.
Kenny Todd, operations integration manager for the ISS, said he “had every confidence that our Russian colleagues will figure out what’s going on.”
There have been two similar Soviet-era accidents involving the Soyuz spacecraft, which are still used to ferry crews to and from the ISS.
In 1975, Oleg Makarov and Vasily Lazarev made a successful emergency landing in Siberia’s Altai mountains following problems during booster separation.
Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov survived a fire during a launch in Kazakhstan in 1983.
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