{"id":13562,"date":"2018-10-14T01:23:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T17:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/soyuz-failure-probe-narrows-focus-on-collision-at-booster-separation\/"},"modified":"2018-10-14T01:23:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T17:23:57","slug":"soyuz-failure-probe-narrows-focus-on-collision-at-booster-separation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/soyuz-failure-probe-narrows-focus-on-collision-at-booster-separation\/","title":{"rendered":"Soyuz failure probe narrows focus on collision at booster separation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, head of Roscosmos human spaceflight programs, speaks to the press Friday in Moscow. Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russian investigators believe a malfunction during separation of the Soyuz rocket\u2019s four liquid-fueled first stage boosters two minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan led to an emergency landing of a two-man crew heading for the International Space Station, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters Friday in Moscow, veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, head of the Russian space agency\u2019s human spaceflight program, said the investigation into Thursday\u2019s launch failure has narrowed on a collision between part of the Soyuz rocket\u2019s first stage and the launcher\u2019s second stage.<\/p>\n

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague were carried away from the failing rocket by an emergency escape system, and they safely landed inside their descent module near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, around 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the launch originated.<\/p>\n

The Soyuz first stage is comprised of four boosters, each powered by a four-nozzle kerosene-fueled RD-107A main engine, that burn for 1 minute, 58 seconds, during launch. Once their engine firings are complete, the boosters are supposed to jettison simultaneously at an altitude of roughly 150,000 feet (45 kilometers) to tumble back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Krikalev said Friday that one of the boosters did not separate from the Soyuz core stage \u2014 or second stage \u2014 cleanly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a collision with one of the side sections, which is part of the first stage. During the separation, the first and second stages came into contact,\u201d Krikalev said, according to a report published by ABC News.<\/p>\n

The boosters have a pusher system to propel the spent rocket segments away from the Soyuz core stage, which was supposed to continue firing to send Ovchinin and Hague into orbit in pursuit of the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

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NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured this view of the Soyuz rocket moments after the failure that caused the crew\u2019s emergency landing Thursday. In this image, Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The collision damaged the lower part of the Soyuz rocket\u2019s core stage, prompting the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft to automatically trigger an abort. Rocket thrusters outside the Soyuz capsule\u2019s shroud at the nose of the rocket rapidly propelled the crew away from launch vehicle, which appeared to disintegrate in video recordings taken from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.<\/p>\n

The failure occurred seconds after the needle-shaped launch abort tower jettisoned from the rocket as part of the normal Soyuz launch sequence, leaving rocket motors located on the spacecraft\u2019s shell to push the crew to safety.<\/p>\n

Imagery captured by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls from the Baikonur launch base appeared to show only three of the four first stage boosters fall away from the Soyuz rocket. Moments later, a cloud of vapor and debris appeared.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s emergency landing was the first in-flight abort during a Soyuz crew launch since 1975. Another Russian crew used the abort system to escape a rocket explosion on the launch pad at Baikonur in 1983.<\/p>\n

While Russian satellite launches and resupply missions to the space station have suffered failures in recent years, Soyuz crew launches proceeded without issue until Thursday\u2019s flight.<\/p>\n

Krikalev said investigators are still studying the cause of Thursday\u2019s booster separation malfunction, and results of the Russian state commission inquiry are expected after Oct. 20.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos \u2014 the Russian space agency \u2014 said in a statement Friday that ground teams would \u201cspeed up\u201d the preparation of a new Soyuz rocket \u201cin order to decide as soon as possible on the schedule for further launches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video below shows the four boosters separating from a Soyuz rocket on a previous launch, including a view from an on-board camera.<\/p>\n