Soyuz Rocket Launch Failure Forces Emergency Landing for US-Russian Space Station Crew

[Elderberry]

Space.com By Meghan Bartels 10/11/2018

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a new U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station failed during its ascent Thursday (Oct. 11), sending its crew capsule falling back toward Earth in a ballistic re-entry, NASA officials said.

A search-and-rescue team has reached the landing site, both crewmembers are in good condition and have left the Soyuz capsule as of 6:10 a.m. EDT, NASA spokesperson Brandi Dean said during live television commentary. Russian space agency Roscosmos has released photographs of both astronauts being checked over after their abrupt landing

 The Soyuz rocket and its Soyuz MS-10 space capsule lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 4:47 a.m. EDT (0847 GMT) with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin aboard. The pair were due to join the three-person Expedition 57 crew already aboard the International Space Station. But something went wrong minutes after liftoff, sending the Soyuz capsule into a ballistic re-entry, NASA officials said.

"Confirming again that the today's Soyuz MS10 launch did go into a ballistic re-entry mode a little bit after its launch around 3:47 a.m Central Time (4:47 a.m. EDT/0847 GMT)," Dean said during live television commentary. "That means the crew will not be going to the International Space Station today. Instead they'll be taking a sharp landing, coming back to Earth." NASA is providing live commentary on NASA TV, which you can watch here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0

More: https://www.space.com/42097-soyuz-rocket-launch-failure-expedition-57-crew.html

[Polly Ticks]

Glad to hear the crew members were ok.

[Elderberry]

Soyuz failure to affect ISS utilization
Space News by Jeff Foust — October 13, 2018

https://spacenews.com/soyuz-failure-to-affect-iss-utilization/

With the International Space Station likely to have only a three-person crew for an extended period, researchers expect there will be less time devoted to research.

The Oct. 11 failure of a Soyuz rocket two minutes after launch, forcing the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft to abort and make an emergency landing, leaves the station with a three-person crew: commander Alexander Gerst of ESA, Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos.

While no decisions have been made about when the Soyuz rocket will be able to resume crewed launches, most involved with the station program expect the station’s crew to remain at three at least until December.

More at link above.

[Elderberry]

Soyuz investigators hone in on booster separation, promise conclusions Oct. 20
by Matthew Bodner — October 12, 2018

https://spacenews.com/soyuz-investigators-hone-in-on-booster-separation-promise-conclusions-oct-20/

MOSCOW — Details surrounding the dramatic abort of the Oct. 11 Soyuz MS-10 launch are coming into focus as accident investigators collect debris from the Kazakh steppe and begin work on analyzing the cause of the failure. Roscosmos now says one of the Soyuz rocket’s four strap-on boosters failed to properly separate and nicked the core stage.

Russia’s most famous living cosmonaut and director of manned spaceflight at Roscosmos, Sergei Krikalev, told reporters Oct. 12 that there are no final conclusions yet, but it is clear that “contact occurred when separating the first and second stages,” he said. “There was a deviation from nominal trajectory, and damage to the lower part of the second stage.”

At this point, Krikalev says the onboard computer cut the second stage engines as designed. This took place at about 119 seconds into flight. Not long after, the Soyuz launch escape system was activated — pushing the capsule away from the launch vehicle and sending cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and astronaut Nick Hague on a dramatic but safe ballistic trajectory home.

More at link above.


An image of the Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft around the time an anomaly with the rocket
 triggered the mission’s abort. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

[Elderberry]

Empty Space Station? NASA Prepares for the Worst (but Hopes for the Best) After Soyuz Abort
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | October 11, 2018 03:12pm ET
https://www.space.com/42106-empty-space-station-possible-after-soyuz-failure.html

 A few months from now, the International Space Station (ISS) could be unoccupied for the first time in nearly two decades.

Russia's workhorse Soyuz rocket suffered a serious anomaly just minutes after launching two astronauts toward the ISS today (Oct. 11), forcing the spaceflyers' crew craft to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

Those two explorers — NASA's Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin — made it through the bumpy touchdown just fine and are in good condition, NASA officials said. But the Soyuz will be grounded while Russian investigators try to figure out exactly what happened today, and how to prevent it from occurring again. [In Photos: The Harrowing Soyuz Launch Abort in Pictures]

While Russia will doubtless make the investigation a high priority, it's unclear how long this work will take, Kenny Todd, NASA's ISS operations integration manager, stressed during a postlaunch news conference today.

More at link above.

[Elderberry]

Crew of Failed Soyuz Rocket Will Fly Again Next Spring, Russia's Space Chief Says

https://www.space.com/42152-soyuz-abort-astronaut-cosmonaut-will-fly-again.html

One day after a Soyuz rocket failed just after liftoff, sending its two-man crew on a dramatic abort in midflight, the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the American and Russian aboard the flight will fly again next year.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said via Twitter on Friday (Oct. 12) that Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague will fly again in the spring, according to a translation. The statement suggests Rogozin has strong confidence that an investigation into the Soyuz launch failure will swiftly find a root cause. NASA's own administrator, Jim Bridenstine, was also optimistic on a swift resolution.

"I fully anticipate that NASA astronauts will fly again on the Soyuz spacecraft,"' Bridenstine said via Twitter Sunday (Oct. 14) after a news conference in Moscow.

More at link above.

[Elderberry]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/russian-official-says-soyuz-rocket-failure-caused-by-an-errant-sensor/

Russian official says Soyuz rocket failure caused by an errant sensor
The Russians plan to put people back on the Soyuz rocket in about a month.

Eric Berger - 10/31/2018, 8:54 AM

Although the official report on the cause of a Soyuz rocket failure won't be released until Thursday, a Russian official disclosed its central conclusion a day early, the country's news agency TASS reports.

Sergei Krikalev, the executive director of "manned programs" for Russia's space corporation Roscosmos, said a sensor on board the rocket failed to properly signal the separation of the first and second stages. As a result, one of the side-mounted rocket boosters did not separate properly from the vehicle and collided with the rocket.

More at link above