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26 Friday Friday, October 12, 2018 Lifestyle | Feature Rocket bound for ISS fails, crew survives emergency landing BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: NASA astronaut Nick Hague, a member of the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 57/58, is helped by specialists as his space suit is tested at the Russian-leased BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: Spacesuits gloves are seen prior to the launch of the Soyuz MS-10 Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. —AFP photos spacecraft. BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: A two-man crew having their blood pressure taken. The de- bound for the International Space Station scent was sharper than usual meaning the was forced to make an emergency landing crew was subjected to a greater G-force, but when a Soyuz rocket failed shortly after they have been prepared for this scenario in blast-off on Thursday, in a major setback for training, according to a commentator on Russia’s beleaguered space industry. US as- NASA’s video livestream of the launch. tronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut “We’re tightening our seatbelts,” Ovchinin Aleksey Ovchinin were rescued without in- said on the video. “That was a short flight.” juries in Kazakhstan. The manned spacecraft “Thank God the cosmonauts are alive,” incident is the first of its kind in Russia’s Russian President Vladimir Putin’s post-Soviet history. spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. The Russian space industry has suffered Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told a series of problems in recent years, includ- news agencies that Russia would suspend ing the loss of a number of satellites and manned flights. Roscosmos’s online stream of other spacecraft. “The emergency rescue the launch cut out shortly after lift-off. system worked, the vessel was able to land in Kazakhstan... the crew are alive,” the Hole on the ISS Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a There were two similar Soviet-era acci- tweet. “An accident with the booster, two dents involving the Soyuz spacecraft, which minutes, 45 seconds,” the voice of Ovchinin are still used to ferry crews to and from the could be heard saying calmly in live- ISS. In 1975, Oleg Makarov and Vasily streamed footage of the launch from Kaza- Lazarev made a successful emergency land- khstan’s Baikonur cosmodrome. ing in Siberia’s Altai mountains following The incident came as the rocket was trav- problems during booster separation. elling about 4,700 miles, 119 seconds into the Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov sur- voyage, according to NASA. “Shortly after vived a fire during launch in Kazakhstan in launch, there was an anomaly with the 1983. Former military pilots Ovchinin and booster and the launch ascent was aborted, Hague had been set to join Alexander Gerst resulting in a ballistic landing of the space- of the European Space Agency, NASA’s Ser- craft,” the American agency said in a state- ena Aunon-Chancellor and Sergey ment. Rescue workers reached the site of the Prokopyev of Roscosmos following a six- emergency landing and evacuated Ovchinin hour flight. and Hague. The International Space Station-a rare BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: Members of the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 57/58, Roscosmos published pictures of the men point of cooperation between Moscow and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin walk prior to on a sofa in the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan, Washington-has been orbiting the Earth at the launch. .

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