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Soyuz Booster Failure: Russia Understands Incident Reasons – Head of Mission

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian experts understand what caused the failure of a Soyuz rocket booster that aborted this Thursday’s launch of a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the head of the mission to the station’s Russian segment said on Sunday.
Sputnik

"We are quite clear about what happened. A series of measures are needed to avert such incidents in the future. We will continue flying," cosmonaut Vladimir Solovyov, who also serves as first deputy general designer at Russia's Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, said.

The failure triggered an automatic escape system about two minutes into a flight to the International Space Station, sending the two-member crew – Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin – on a perilous plunge of more than 30 miles back to Earth.

However, the head of the mission assured that the International Space Station (ISS) crew have enough supplies of food, water and oxygen to last them at least until next summer. 

READ MORE: Russian Space Corp Gets Telemetry Data, Video to Probe Soyuz Fall — Roscosmos

"There are enough supplies on the ISS that provide for the [adequate] living conditions. We are estimating that the supplies will last [the crew] six months — until next summer or even longer. The supplies include the stocks of fuel, oxygen, water, food," Soloviev said.

PHOTOS of Failed Russian Soyuz Rocket Launch Seen From ISS Released
On Thursday, an accident occurred during the liftoff of a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft with two new members of the International Space Station crew on board. An investigation into the issue has been started and a source told Sputnik that all launches of manned space flights to the ISS would be suspended. However, another source in the space industry later told Sputnik that there were no plans to delay the launch of the Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft scheduled for October 31.

This became the first failure of a manned space launch in modern Russian history. It is being investigated by a special commission of Russia's space agency Roscosmos. All manned launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome have been suspended until the commission finds out the causes of the failure.

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