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Soyuz spacecraft’s rescue system proves exceptional reliability, says Roscosmos chief

The cause behind the inciden yet to be sorted out, Dmitry Rogozin said

© Michail Metsel/TASS

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. The Russian Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft’s rescue system has demonstrated its exceptional reliability after a booster’s abortive launch, Head of the Roscosmos space agency Dmitry Rogozin said, RT television channel reported in its Twitter page.

"The rescue system has demonstrated its exceptional reliability. As for the cause of the failed launch, we will sort this out," Rogozin said.

A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday. The carrier rocket with the manned spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:40 a.m. Moscow time.

The manned spacecraft carried Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin (the commander of the Soyuz MS-10) and NASA astronaut Nick Hague.

The Soyuz booster aborted after its launch, after which the crew switched to the mode of a ballistic descent. The manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft landed in the Kazakh steppe after the Soyuz FG carrier rocket aborted its launch. The crew established contact, a source at the Baikonur Cosmodrome told TASS.

As the press office of Russia’s Central Military District reported, rescuers are evacuating the crew from the descent capsule and the crew members are in good condition.

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