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.â€
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