This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A space capsule carrying a two-man Russian-American crew that malfunctioned after liftoff has landed safely in Kazakhstan, the Russian and U.S. space agencies say.
There’s been an issue with the booster from today’s launch. Teams have been in contact with the crew. Updates: https://t.co/mzKW5uV4hS
— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018
Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Ovchinin and U.S. astronaut Nick Hague returned to Earth in their Soyuz capsule for an emergency landing following a problem with the booster rocket shortly after a launch bound for the International Space Station (ISS), a NASA TV announcer said on October 11.
.@AstroHague is headed to the @Space_Station on Thursday, the first member of the astronaut class of 2013 to fly to space. But Hague would be quick to say that this mission, like everything else he’s done in his life, is the result of a team effort: https://t.co/mPreDjCJl4 pic.twitter.com/tB68QH6zCh
— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018
Both NASA, the U.S. space agency, and Roskosmos, the Russian equivalent, said the astronauts were in good condition after their capsule landed about 20 kilometers east of the Kazakh city of Zhezqazghan.
“The cosmonauts are alive. They have landed. They have been found,” a source at the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan said.
The crew is returning to Earth in a ballistic descent mode. 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
The crew had to return in “ballistic descent mode,” NASA said, which it explained was “a sharper angle of landing compared to normal.”
Hague and Ovchinin were due to spend six months on the ISS.
