Russian space agency Rocosmos just released the video of the Soyuz rocket mishap. The video shows the moment when everything went wrong as soon as the rocket escaped the gravitational pull of the earth. The incident was caused due to a mechanical failure which forced two astronauts to leave the ship shortly after the launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin aborted the mission safely. They are descending to Earth in a capsule and will land near the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan. It’s a miracle that neither of the astronauts was injured.
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NASA cited the Soyuz ballistic reentry emergency protocol as its saving grace. It is a method a capsule uses to return to earth slowly at a precise angle descent. It was the fourth time a Soyuz called upon ballistic reentry to avoid any disaster and also the first major issue with a manned Soyuz mission since 1983. Investigators found a faulty sensor which was used to control the separation of the rocket’s booster from its core as the catalyst. Chief investigator Igor Skorobogatov explained to reporters, “It has been proven, fully confirmed that this happened specifically because of this sensor, and that could only have happened during the package’s assembly at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.”
The manufacturing issue might have affected two more Soyuz rockets. Skorobogatov said that investigators are currently conducting a rigorous inspection and the heightened scrutiny is also welcome after the latest disaster. Currently, the Soyuz fleet is the only vessel which is capable of carrying scientists to the ISS.