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A Soyuz flight that was supposed to launch two astronauts to the ISS had a booster failure (half an hour before this post). The Soyuz capsule separated from the rocket and landed, the crew is fine. Rescue teams got to them quickly. While they had to endure higher g-forces than usual they seem to be in a good condition.
The accident investigation will take months, although we can expect preliminary results earlier. This leads to the question: What happens with the ISS crew? Currently the Soyuz is the only spacecraft that can carry humans there. Two US companies work on their own capsules but they won't be ready for at least 6 more months. Too long for the usual crew rotation. One option would be to keep the current crew of three on the ISS longer - uncrewed resupply missions are independent of this accident. Another option would be to launch another Soyuz soon - while Russia might propose that I'm sure NASA won't be happy with that option. Directly launching the first Dragon 2 or CST-100 Starliner with a crew is also something NASA won't like. They could leave the ISS empty, but that would be problematic on its own.
Personally I expect that they extend the stay of the current crew, and try to speed up the crewed flights of the American spacecraft as much as they can.Edit: A preliminary investigation shows one of the strap-on boosters hit the second stage during separation. News report
Found by @Jonathan Scott.Media:
Jeff Foust: NASA: Soyuz in a ballistic descent after booster failure shortly after first stage separation.
Image of booster separation
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
The accident investigation will take months, although we can expect preliminary results earlier. This leads to the question: What happens with the ISS crew? Currently the Soyuz is the only spacecraft that can carry humans there. Two US companies work on their own capsules but they won't be ready for at least 6 more months. Too long for the usual crew rotation. One option would be to keep the current crew of three on the ISS longer - uncrewed resupply missions are independent of this accident. Another option would be to launch another Soyuz soon - while Russia might propose that I'm sure NASA won't be happy with that option. Directly launching the first Dragon 2 or CST-100 Starliner with a crew is also something NASA won't like. They could leave the ISS empty, but that would be problematic on its own.
Personally I expect that they extend the stay of the current crew, and try to speed up the crewed flights of the American spacecraft as much as they can.Edit: A preliminary investigation shows one of the strap-on boosters hit the second stage during separation. News report
Found by @Jonathan Scott.Media:
Jeff Foust: NASA: Soyuz in a ballistic descent after booster failure shortly after first stage separation.
Image of booster separation
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
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