Soyuz MS-10

Russia

Manned Flight nº: 316

Earth orbit Flight nº: -

Russia manned Flight nº: 146

No manned flight to ISS. 20th suborbital flight.

Launch, orbit & landing data:

Designation	F01526 / 18F01
Launch date - time	11 Oct 2018 - 08:40:15 UTC 2:40 pm local time
Launch site	Baikonur, LC1/5
Launch vehicle	Soyuz-FG (#xx)
Soyuz designation	11F732A48 nº740
Mass (kg)	kg
Altitude (apogee)	93 km
Inclination	51.6°
Landing date - time	11 Oct 2018 - 08:59:56 UTC
Landing location	47°35′08"N, 68°00′25"E 20 km E of Dzhezkazgan
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	19m 41s
Nbr orbits	0
Landing crew	Launch crew

Launch failure and emergency return to Earth.

Launched Crew

Nr.	Name	Job	Duration
1	Ovchinin, Aleksei (Russia)	Commander	19m 41s
3	Hague, Tyler (US)	Flight Engineer	19m 41s

Alexei Ovchinin (foreground) and Nick Hague wave to well-wishers, before launch on 11 October. Photo Credit: NASA/Twitter

Launch crew

Backup Crew

Nr.	Name	Job
1	Kononenko, Oleg Dmitriyevich (Russia)	Commander
2	Saint-Jacques, Devid (Canada)	Flight engineer

Mission details:

Planned ISS Expedition 57/58 mission.
Soyuz MS-10 (spacecraft 11F732A48 No. 740) was launched on Oct 11, 2018 at 0840:15 UTC (2:40 p.m. local time) from the Gagarin pad at Baykonur aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket (model 11A511U-FG S/N U15000-062), carrying astronauts Aleksey Nikolaevich Ovchinin (Roskosmos; Col. VVS, ret.) and Col. Tyler Nicklaus 'Nick' Hague (USAF, NASA).
Liftoff occurred on time and the early phase of ascent appeared entirely nominal, with more than 930,000 pounds (422,000 kg) of thrust produced by the single RD-108 first-stage engine and the RD-107 engines of the Soyuz-FG′s four tapering, strap-on boosters. It was expected that a smooth launch would put Soyuz MS-10 on course for a six-hour and four-orbit “fast rendezvous” to reach the space station.
The solid escape motor tower (DU SAS) was jettisoned on schedule at T+1min 54s. The DU SAS is only part of the complex Soyuz escape system. At T+1:58 the side boosters comprising stage 1, called Blok B, V, G and D, shut down and were ejected from stage 2, the Blok A core stage. At this point, 50 km up at the base of the mesosphere, one of the side boosters (specifically, Blok D) failed to rotate away from the core correctly and smashed into it, causing an emergency abort at T+2:03. A leading theory is that a propellant vent that normally pushes the Blok D away failed to operate.
The Soyuz-FG rocket′s core stage engines shut down, as is standard for a Russian rocket abort, and the remaining part of the SAS (sistema avariynovo spaseniya, System of Emergency Rescue) came into play. The RDG engines on the side of the fairing fired as the upper part of Soyuz (BO, Bitovoy Otsek, orbital module; SA, Spuskaemiy Apparat, descent craft; and GO, golovnoy obektatel', payload fairing) separated from the lower part (lower fairing and the PAO, priborno-agregatniy-otsek, instrument-service-module) which remained attached to the rocket stack (Blok A stage 2 plus Blok I stage 3). The RDG motors pulled the bisected Soyuz away from the disintegrating rocket. The rocket stack fell back towards Earth and its parts have been recovered for analysis.
At T+2:40, the SA descent craft was ejected out of the rear of the BO/GO assembly. The BO/GO and the SA then continued on a ballistic trajectory, reaching an apogee of 93 km (according to A. Krasil′nikov on the Novosti Kosmonavitiki forum) and falling back toward Kazakhstan. The SA, with the two astronauts aboard, deployed its parachutes and floated to a landing 20 km east of the city of Dzezhkazgan at 0859:56 UTC after a flight lasting 19 min 41s. Astronauts Ovchinin and Hague were retrieved safely.

Alexei Ovchinin (lower) and Nick Hague were shaken around quite violently in the Soyuz MS-10 cabin during the abort. Photo Credit: NASA

Soyuz MS-10 experiences an off-nominal booster-separation event during ascent. Photo Credit: NASA TV

It was noted at the time that Lazarev and Makarov would ordinarily have endured up to 15 G, but actually experienced 21.3 G of deceleration, whose gravitational effects the crew described as “creeping and unpleasant”. Soyuz 18A′s descent module touched down in the Altai Mountains, about 515 miles (830 km) north of the Chinese border.
It would appear, that Soyuz MS-10′s descent was considerably smoother than that of Soyuz 18A. By the time the search and rescue forces arrived, they reported that Ovchinin and Hague had exited the descent module and were described as in good condition and healthy.

The Ovchinin-Hague crew may be recycled for Soyuz MS-12 early next year.

Soyuz MS-10 recovery. Photo Credit: NASA

Press conference from November 01, 2018 about the causes of the emergency:

A press conference was held on November 01, 2018 at the Mission Control Center at TsNIIMash on the results of the work of the State Commission to determine the causes of the emergency situation that occurred on October 11, 2018 during the launch of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle (Soyuz-FG) with a manned transport ship (Soyuz MS-10).
From the conclusion of the emergency commission, Oleg Skorobogatov told the journalists about the results, "The start ended with a PH accident due to the abnormal separation of one of the side blocks (block "D") that hit the central block (block "A") in the tank fuel, which led to its depressurization and, consequently, to the loss of stabilization of the space rocket".
The reason for abnormal separation is the failure to open the lid of the nozzle cover of the oxidizer tank of the "D" block due to the deformation of the sensor of the separation contact sensor (bending to 6"45') allowed when assembling the "bag" at the Baikonur cosmodrome. The cause of the RN accident is operational in nature and extends to the groundwork collected in the "package" of the Soyuz type PH.
The emergency rescue system of Soyuz MS-10 worked in accordance with the established logic. The crew acted in accordance with the requirements of the on-board instructions and instructions of the Mission Control Center."
For the unconditional implementation of the spacecraft launch plan for the Federal Space Program and the programs of international cooperation of Russia, the Roscosmos State Corporation organized the development of a set of measures to exclude the possibility of an emergency situation repeating and carrying out priority measures for the resumption of launches of the Soyuz-type launch vehicle in November 2018. At the same time, the State Commission approved the launch dates for the International Space Station program: on November 16, 2018, the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle with the Progress MS-10 transport cargo vehicle was launched, and on December 03, 2018, Soyuz MS-11 was launched.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur 11.10.2018, registered mail.

Launch cancel Baikonur, with special blue mission and ISS cancel. Signed by cosmonauts Ovchinin and Hague. Credit: J. Esders

Ref.: #16, #127, #418 - update: 12.04.19

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