Five things to know about Expedition 57 launch abort
2018-10-18
On Oct. 11, astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. While their Soyuz MS-10 had been slated to dock with the International Space Station for Expedition 57, an anomaly with a booster two minutes into flight initiated the launch abort system. This mechanism quickly, but safely, pulled the crew capsule away from the rocket and enabled them to quickly land back in Kazakhstan.
Soon after the ballistic landing, rescue teams tracked and retrieved the two-person crew and reunited them with their families and officials from both NASA and Roscosmos.
“The NASA family has to be so proud of all the people that worked so hard and prepared so well for this. On a ballistic re-entry, we had the right people in the right place,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in an interview following the abort.
Have questions about Expedition 57 going forward? Here are top five things to know:
1. The launch abort system and crew training work.
Although it has not been used in 35 years, the Soyuz abort system proved itself. Reflecting on the system’s reliability, Hague said, “It was ready to go when it was needed. I am very thankful for all those people that make sure those failsafe systems are in place.”
Asked about his thoughts during the abort, he said, “Training really takes over. We spend a lot of time in Star City with the folks at the Cosmonaut Training Facility training for every scenario they can think of. This is one of those. So we had an opportunity to practice responding to something like this.”
2. We’re going to launch on a Soyuz again.
Speaking after the launch abort, Bridenstine promised a return to space for Americans aboard Soyuz rockets.
“This relationship is strong … Both of our nations can do more together than we can do separate. [The Russians] recognize that, and we recognize that. As we move forward, certainly we want to provide any information we can provide in the investigation. And we want to make sure that when we do launch again—and I believe we will launch again on a Soyuz rocket—that we understand what this anomaly was, that we resolve it and that together we launch again and have success,” Bridenstine said.
3. The investigation going forward is a cooperative effort.
Following the abort, Kenny Todd, International Space Station operations and integration manager, shared that both NASA and Roscosmos are investigating the anomaly’s cause.
“Our Russian colleagues will assign a commission tasked with trying to understand exactly what happened and what recovery efforts are needed to get flying again,” Todd said. “They have already offered to us that whatever they learn, they will most certainly share with us.
“We always work side by side with the Russians as they perform their own investigations. They will give us the insight we need in order to go through our own review process that culminates in a Flight Readiness Review. I anticipate we will form our own investigation team, [and] that team will be tasked with learning as much as we can about the situation, formulating our own opinions, asking our own questions [and] delivering them to our Russian colleagues.”
4. There is a plan for the space station.
Teams across NASA and the international partners are looking at how this impacts the upcoming schedule for the space station. The current crew is scheduled to remain on station through the middle of December.
“That will give our Russian colleagues certainly the better part of two to three months to diagnose this problem and understand what they need to do to correct that,” Todd said. “We’ve got a bit of runway in front of us. We have every confidence that [Roscosmos] will figure out what’s going on, and they’ll get back to us with a plan on how to get the Soyuz back online again. As they do that and work that and help us understand their schedule, we’ll look at some of our downstream schedules.”
5. Station is continuing its normal operations
In the meantime, regular operations continue aboard the space station. With plenty of science and technology to study, astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst and cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev are keeping their eyes on the mission for Expedition 57. The station is performing as normal, and no issues are expected in coming weeks and months.
Be sure to stay tuned to Roundup Reads for more in the coming weeks, and check out the official press release for the abort.
Morgan McAllister
NASA Johnson Space Center
Soon after the ballistic landing, rescue teams tracked and retrieved the two-person crew and reunited them with their families and officials from both NASA and Roscosmos.
“The NASA family has to be so proud of all the people that worked so hard and prepared so well for this. On a ballistic re-entry, we had the right people in the right place,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in an interview following the abort.
Have questions about Expedition 57 going forward? Here are top five things to know:
1. The launch abort system and crew training work.
Although it has not been used in 35 years, the Soyuz abort system proved itself. Reflecting on the system’s reliability, Hague said, “It was ready to go when it was needed. I am very thankful for all those people that make sure those failsafe systems are in place.”
Asked about his thoughts during the abort, he said, “Training really takes over. We spend a lot of time in Star City with the folks at the Cosmonaut Training Facility training for every scenario they can think of. This is one of those. So we had an opportunity to practice responding to something like this.”
2. We’re going to launch on a Soyuz again.
Speaking after the launch abort, Bridenstine promised a return to space for Americans aboard Soyuz rockets.
“This relationship is strong … Both of our nations can do more together than we can do separate. [The Russians] recognize that, and we recognize that. As we move forward, certainly we want to provide any information we can provide in the investigation. And we want to make sure that when we do launch again—and I believe we will launch again on a Soyuz rocket—that we understand what this anomaly was, that we resolve it and that together we launch again and have success,” Bridenstine said.
3. The investigation going forward is a cooperative effort.
Following the abort, Kenny Todd, International Space Station operations and integration manager, shared that both NASA and Roscosmos are investigating the anomaly’s cause.
“Our Russian colleagues will assign a commission tasked with trying to understand exactly what happened and what recovery efforts are needed to get flying again,” Todd said. “They have already offered to us that whatever they learn, they will most certainly share with us.
“We always work side by side with the Russians as they perform their own investigations. They will give us the insight we need in order to go through our own review process that culminates in a Flight Readiness Review. I anticipate we will form our own investigation team, [and] that team will be tasked with learning as much as we can about the situation, formulating our own opinions, asking our own questions [and] delivering them to our Russian colleagues.”
4. There is a plan for the space station.
Teams across NASA and the international partners are looking at how this impacts the upcoming schedule for the space station. The current crew is scheduled to remain on station through the middle of December.
“That will give our Russian colleagues certainly the better part of two to three months to diagnose this problem and understand what they need to do to correct that,” Todd said. “We’ve got a bit of runway in front of us. We have every confidence that [Roscosmos] will figure out what’s going on, and they’ll get back to us with a plan on how to get the Soyuz back online again. As they do that and work that and help us understand their schedule, we’ll look at some of our downstream schedules.”
5. Station is continuing its normal operations
In the meantime, regular operations continue aboard the space station. With plenty of science and technology to study, astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst and cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev are keeping their eyes on the mission for Expedition 57. The station is performing as normal, and no issues are expected in coming weeks and months.
Be sure to stay tuned to Roundup Reads for more in the coming weeks, and check out the official press release for the abort.
Morgan McAllister
NASA Johnson Space Center
Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, left, is welcomed by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine after Hague landed at the Krayniy Airport.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls