An American and Russian astronaut are "in great shape" after the rocket they boarded suffered a malfunction on its way to the International Space Station, forcing an emergency landing. An investigation will take place into what happened with the rocket, which entered an abort phase just after booster separation, NASA officials said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. The incident began with a booster emergency light illuminating in the ship of NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos astronaut Alexei Ovchinin. Abort motors kicked in after that, propelling the capsule and its crew from the boosters. The spacecraft then went into a "ballistic reentry," said NASA deputy chief astronaut Reid Wiseman, similar to "shooting a bullet out of a rifle barrel." The astronauts experienced rotation six to seven times Earth's gravity before making their way back down to Earth, landing roughly 12 miles east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. Search and rescue teams from Russia arrived as soon as the spacecraft touched ground to assist the astronauts. "From everything we have seen, the crew is in great shape," Wiseman said. NASA posted pictures of Hague and Ovchinin undergoing a medical check-up at Dzhezkazgan’s airport. One photo showed Hague smiling, and another showed him next to Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s space agency chief. Wiseman said although crews are always ready for potential issues, "certainly there is a bit of shock in there for a moment, but communication with the crew was extremely professional." Both astronauts are with family members and medical professionals in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and will eventually return to Moscow where the astronauts receive training. "The crew handled their procedures exactly as planned," said Wiseman. Contributing: The Associated Press Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23. More:Leak at International Space Station caused by human, Russia says More:This rocket's for you: NASA might sell naming rights<doc-sep>Gif : NASA The two-person crew aboard a Russian-made Soyuz rocket made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan today shortly after launch. The crew, which was traveling to the International Space Station, is reportedly safe and in “good condition” after the scary failure was broadcast on the web. Advertisement NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:40am ET time this morning. As you can see from video of the NASA livestream, early reports indicate that the booster failed minutes after liftoff. “The Soyuz capsule is returning to Earth via a ballistic descent, which is a sharper angle of landing compared to normal,” NASA tweeted. “Search and rescue teams are heading towards the expected touchdown location of the spacecraft and crew.” The crew of the MS-10 landed roughly 12 miles east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan and was met by a search and recovery team that’s always prepared on the ground for a situation precisely like this. The crew is currently being brought to Moscow. It’s been a rough few months for space travel, as today’s failure follows another recent incident aboard the International Space Station. Horrifyingly, a hole was recently discovered on a different Soyuz capsule, the MS-09, that was attached to the International Space Station in late August. The hole cause a small oxygen leak while hooked up to the ISS. The Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted that it’s creating a formal commission to investigate the rocket failure. This article will be updated as we learn more. You can watch the livestream from NASA here.<doc-sep>Sergei Savostyanov/TASS via Getty Images A NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut made an emergency landing after their rocket failed in midair Thursday morning. Now playing: Watch this: Rocket failure leads to emergency landing The Soyuz MS-10 mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:40 a.m. PT (2:40 p.m. local time), but "an anomaly" with the booster forced NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Aleksey Ovchinin to return to Earth in an escape capsule, NASA said in a statement. The capsule landed east of the city of Zhezkazgan. The pair were supposed to take a four-orbit, six-hour journey to the International Space Station. They were due to join European Space Agency's Alexander Gerst, NASA's Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos' Sergey Prokopyev for six months to conduct experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. The incident won't have a major impact on the work of current ISS astronauts, who're due to remain there until mid-December, International Space Station Operations Integration Manager Kenny Todd said in a NASA TV briefing. NASA said that the spacecraft separated from the booster and that teams "are in contact with the crew." The capsule -- which is largely automated -- returned to Earth in a ballistic descent mode, the agency said. Alexander Ryumin\TASS via Getty Images A ballistic descent is a sharper angle of landing than usual, but the space agency reported that Hague and Ovchinin made it back to Earth in good condition. Search-and-recovery helicopters brought them to Zhezkazgan, where they reported on the incident and underwent a medical checkup ahead of their journey to Baikonur, Kazakhstan. They'll ultimately return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, just outside Moscow. It was Hague's first space mission, NASA tweeted before the launch, and Ovchinin's second, RTE reported. Below are images of the two men after they were back on Earth. NASA also posted the images. #СоюзМС10: космонавт Роскосмоса Алексей Овчинин и астронавт @NASA Ник Хейг сейчас находятся в Жезказгане и проходят обследование перед вылетом. Генеральный директор Роскосмоса Дмитрий Рогозин (@Rogozin) принял решение о транспортировке космонавтов на Байконур. pic.twitter.com/b1IzKZZI8O — РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) October 11, 2018 "Thank God the cosmonauts are alive," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists as the Kremlin confirmed Hague's and Ovchinin's survival. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he's "grateful that everyone is safe." Roscosmos is forming a state commission to investigate the cause of Thursday's incident. Glad our friends are fine. Thanks to the rescue force of >1000 SAR professionals! Today showed again what an amazing vehicle the #Soyuz is, to be able to save the crew from such a failure. Spaceflight is hard. And we must keep trying for the benefit of humankind #Exp57 #SoyuzMS10 pic.twitter.com/H7RmToBb5C — Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) October 11, 2018 Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency, expressed his relief that Hague and Ovchinin were unhurt. "Glad our friends are fine. Thanks to the rescue force of >1000 SAR professionals! Today showed again what an amazing vehicle the #Soyuz is, to be able to save the crew from such a failure. Spaceflight is hard. And we must keep trying for the benefit of humankind," he tweeted from the ISS. The malfunction may have occurred during "staging" -- when the rocket was going through the process of discarding empty fuel segments -- and the crew was tipped off to the problem because they felt weightless as they should've felt pushed back in their seats, according to a BBC analyst. While the capsule was prepared for this scenario, the crew would've endured very high gravitational forces and had an uncomfortable journey back to Earth during the ballistic descent, the analyst wrote. First published Oct. 11, 2:36 a.m. PT. Update, 9:53 a.m.: Adds detail from NASA TV briefing. Now playing: Watch this: Remote-controlled robots could soon explore space Dazzling NASA 4K moon video It crackles with craters. NASA's First Man in real life Neil Armstrong was the right man at the right time.<doc-sep>
An American and a Russian astronaut made an emergency landing Thursday after the Russian rocket they were aboard malfunctioned en route to the International Space Station. NASA said its astronaut, Nick Hague, and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos were in good condition and out of the capsule that carried them back to Earth. "I’m grateful that everyone is safe. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "Thank God, the crew is alive." He said President Vladimir Putin was receiving regular updates about the situation. It was to be the first space mission for Hague, who joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2013. Ovchinin spent six months on the orbiting outpost in 2016. The two landed about 12 miles east of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan. Spacecraft returning from the International Space Station (ISS) normally land in that region. The men were flown by helicopter to Dzhezkazgan and will be taken to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow in Russia. The astronauts lifted off as scheduled at 4:40 a.m. ET from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz booster rocket. They were to dock at the ISS six hours later, but the three-stage Soyuz booster suffered an unspecified failure of its second stage. "There was an issue with the booster from today’s launch. The Soyuz capsule returned to Earth via a ballistic descent, which is a sharper angle of landing compared to normal," NASA said in a statement. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin tweeted: "The crew has landed. Everybody is alive," Russian news agency Tass reported. NASA posted pictures of Hague and Ovchinin undergoing a medical check-up at Dzhezkazgan’s airport. One of the pictures showed Hague smiling and another showed him sitting next to Russia’s space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin. While the Russian space program has been dogged by a string of launch failures and other incidents in recent years, Thursday’s mishap marked the program’s first manned launch failure since September 1983, when a Soyuz exploded on the launch pad. Last month, Rogozin said in televised comments that Russian investigators found that a hole that caused an oxygen leak in the ISS was made deliberately. The investigation is ongoing. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that all manned launches will be suspended pending an investigation into the cause of the failure. He said Russia will share all the relevant information with the United States. "I think the Americans will show understanding regarding this situation. Naturally, we will not conceal the causes," he said, according to Tass. When asked whether the launch failure will affect space cooperation between Russia and the U.S., he said: "Of course, they should know. We will convey all the necessary information on this incident to them." He added that "today only Russia ensures the transportation of space crews to the International Space Station," Tass reported. Contributing: Associated Press