Astronauts from aborted Soyuz rocket to fly to ISS next spring

The two astronauts aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) that failed mid-air, are likely to go into space in the spring of 2019, the media reported on Friday.

The flight of Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague to the ISS is scheduled for next spring, Sputnik quoted Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin as saying.

"We are back to Zvyozdny gorodok. The guys will fly. We're planning their flight for next spring," Rogozin wrote on Twitter.

The Soyuz MS-10 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ISS at 4.40 a.m. on Thursday with Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague on board. It was Hague's maiden space mission.

According to US space agency NASA, there was an "issue with the booster" and the "crew is returning to Earth in a ballistic descent mode", which is a sharper angle of descent compared to normal.

The crew safely returned to Earth in a jettisoned escape capsule.

Roscosmos has launched an inquiry into the accident and all Russian manned launches have been suspended, the report said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov also expressed hope that NASA would treat the situation with understanding.

Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Jim Brindenstine and European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner have offered their assistance in the investigation into the Soyuz booster failure, the report said.

--IANS

rt/mag/sed