Watch the Soyuz MS-10 rocket launch failure

By Cale Guthrie Weissman

October 11, 2018

This morning, the Soyuz MS-10 rocket–carrying an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut–had to perform an emergency landing after a booster failed at launch. The two, after being propelled to the heavens with the intention of heading to the International Space Station, had a terrifying fall back down to Earth. Both reportedly landed safely, about 200 miles away in Kazakhstan.

The initial launch and realization of the booster failure was captured live via NASA. In the video, you can see the rocket blast off, and then hear the astronauts report to ground control. A few minutes in, it becomes clear something is wrong. There’s no video yet of the astronauts’ reentry to Earth via a capsule, but you can see the crew on Earth mobilize to figure out how to save them.

Here’s a short video of the launch failure as it happens:

And if you want to spend a few hours watching the entire situation unfold, here’s a much longer video that shows ground control figure out the situation:

Russia has released a picture of the two space explorers sitting on a couch, apparently in good health. We’ll learn more about the situation as the day goes on.

 
 

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