Russian cosmonaut praises space rocket’s dependability during Soyuz’s emergency landing

The space rocket’s functions demonstrated their reliability during the emergency landing of the manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft, MS-10 Commander Alexei Ovchinin told RT International News TV Channel on Tuesday.

"On my part, I, and not only I, again became convinced of the dependability of our space rocketry and this, therefore, should serve as a factor that there should be no fear. When needed to operate, the rocketry will work and it will function properly," the cosmonaut stressed.

Ovchinin also thanked all those who had participated in the preparations for the flight and the rescue operation after the emergency landing.

A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, at 11:40 a.m. Moscow time. On board the spacecraft were Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin (the commander of the Soyuz MS-10) and NASA astronaut Nick Hague.

Following a smooth liftoff, the Soyuz’s booster malfunctioned between the first and second stages of separating, whereupon the crew was forced to abort the flight and switch to ballistic descent. The manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft ended up landing in the Kazakh steppe.

The press office of Russia’s Central Military District reported that rescuers recovered the crew from the descent capsule. Later, the crewmembers were examined and found to be in good condition. After their medical check-up in the town of Baikonur, the astronauts were transported to Moscow.

This is the first emergency landing with this type of carrier rocket over the past 35 years.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who returned to Moscow from the Baikonur spaceport on October 12 after the Soyuz booster’s failure, flew to the United States on October 13, the Cosmonaut Training Center’s press service told TASS.