US, Russian astronauts safe after emergency landing
[ad_1] BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: Two astronauts from the US and Russia were safe on Thursday after an emergency landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan following the failure of a Russian booster rocket carrying them to the International Space Station. Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40pm Thursday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but their Soyuz booster rocket failed about two minutes after the launch. The rescue capsule automatically jettisoned from the booster and went into a ballistic descent, landing at a sharper than normal angle and subjecting the crew to heavy gravitational force. Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine, who watched the launch at Baikonur along with his Russian counterpart, tweeted that Hague and Ovchinin are in good condition. He added that a "thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted." The capsule landed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the cit...