Officials in Russia reported that the planned launch of three astronauts to the International Space Station was stopped just before their scheduled takeoff on Thursday due to technical issues. However, they confirmed that the crew was unharmed and safe.

The Soyuz rocket from Russia was set to transport Tracy Dyson from NASA, Oleg Novitsky from Roscosmos, and Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus from the launch facility in Kazakhstan, which is leased by Russia.

An automatic safety system interrupted the scheduled liftoff at 1321 GMT, about 20 seconds prior. Both Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation and NASA confirmed the safety of the crew, and Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov announced a rescheduled launch for Saturday.

According to Borisov, members of the press were informed that the reason for the launch being stopped was promptly identified by experts. They determined that a decrease in voltage from a power source was the trigger.

The international space station, once a symbol of collaboration after the Cold War, is now one of the few areas where Russia and the West are still working together, as tensions rise due to Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. NASA and its collaborators plan to keep the station running until at least 2030.

Dyson was preparing for her third journey to the orbital complex, where she would reside for a period of six months. Novitsky, who had been on three previous flights to the orbiting outpost, and Vasilevskaya, the first astronaut from her country, were scheduled to return to Earth after 12 days in orbit.

Three astronauts were scheduled to join the space station’s crew, which includes NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin.

Russia has continued to rely on modified versions of Soviet-designed rockets for commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the space station.

Although the crew was not at risk, the failed launch on Thursday was a major setback for the Russian space program.

In October 2018, there was a failed launch using a Soyuz rocket. The rocket was carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin to the International Space Station. The failure occurred less than two minutes after blastoff, causing their rescue capsule to go on a steep ride back to a safe landing.

During the Soyuz rocket’s launch in 2018, astronauts Hague and Ovchinin experienced a short period of weightlessness at 50 kilometers above the ground. However, when the capsule separated from the malfunctioning rocket, they then encountered gravitational forces that were 6-7 times stronger than those on Earth. This was the first launch failure for Russia’s manned program in over 30 years.

Source: wral.com