Five months after a frightening launch abort, cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA flight engineer Tyler “Nick” Hague, along with first time flier Christina Koch, are set for liftoff Thursday on a six-hour flight to the International Space Station, boosting the lab’s crew back to six.
Soyuz crew set to try again, 5 months after frightening launch abort
With Ovchinin strapped into the command module’s center seat, flanked on the left by Hague and on the right by Koch, the Soyuz MS-12/58S spacecraft is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:14 p.m. EDT Thursday (12:14 a.m. Friday local time), kicking off an eight-minute 45-second climb to orbit.If all goes well, the spacecraft will catch up with the station four orbits later, moving in for an automated docking at the Earth-facing Rassvet module around 9:07 p.m.
Ovchinin and Hague took off aboard the Soyuz MS-10/56S spacecraft on Oct. 11. But two minutes after liftoff, one of the rocket’s four strap-on boosters failed to separate cleanly, triggering a catastrophic failure. The Soyuz spacecraft’s abort system immediately kicked in, propelling the crew ship to safety for a parachute descent to Earth.The problem with the normally reliable Soyuz booster was quickly identified and corrected and the station’s current crew — Soyuz MS-11/57S commander Oleg Kononenko, Canadian astronaut-physician David Saint-Jacques and NASA flight engineer Anne McClain — enjoyed a problem-free ride to orbit Dec. 3.Speaking with CBS News by satellite from Moscow last month, Hague said he continued to have full confidence in the safety and reliability of the Soyuz.”I’m 100 percent confident,” he said. “In the aftermath of the launch abort, watching the response from the Russians, the transparency and the way they approach that in terms of sharing their data and resolving the issues, it was impressive. The strength of the international cooperation was tested, and it’s as strong as it’s ever been.”That doesn’t necessarily make it any easier for Hague’s wife and two children. All three were on hand at Baikonur for the launch abort.”It’s a rarity that a family has the opportunity to watch a parent or a spouse sit on top of a rocket, launch into space and see a catastrophic launch failure and then have an opportunity to watch that all happen again five months later,” he said.”But I am lucky, I’ve got an amazing wife, I’ve got amazing children, and I’ve been impressed by their resilience. They understand the importance of what we’re doing, and why we need to keep the mission going. The space program, we’ve had failures and successes, and we learn as we go. But the important thing is we continue moving forward.”
His wife Catie told CBS News earlier: “I’m nervous. Oh yes. … Every little piece has to work perfectly, and it’s scary to be the spouse and to watch it from the outside, (it’s) very scary. But I agree with what Nick said. I mean, this is an important mission. And I go back to that to help calm my nerves.”Even so, she added, “will I be terrified while I’m watching it? Yes, I will be terrified.”The launch abort threw a wrench into the carefully planned space station crew rotation schedule. Kononenko, Saint-Jacques and McClain have had the station to themselves since three other station fliers returned to Earth Dec. 19.The Soyuz MS-12/58S spacecraft originally was expected to launch in April with commander Oleg Skripochka, a United Arab Emirates guest cosmonaut and Koch, who was in training as the flight’s board engineer, or co-pilot. But in the wake of the abort, the flight was moved up and Ovchinin and Hague were assigned to join Koch with Hague taking over co-pilot role.Koch, an electrical engineer, rock climber and veteran Antarctic researcher, was selected for the astronaut corps in 2013 in the same class with Hague. She said Ovchinin and Hague went out of their way to welcome her aboard.She described Ovchinin as “wonderful,” saying he “welcomed me very graciously into the crew. He from day one has looked for ways to incorporate my skills and knowledge, he has made sure I feel like a full-fledged member of the crew.”We’ve trained both in the Soyuz and on the Russian segment of the space station, so we’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn how each other work and we have a great relationship. I’m privileged to fly with him. He’s proven himself many times before as a great space flier.”