nasa astronaut landing
NASA astronaut Nick Hague of NASA, left, is welcomed by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine after Hague landed at Krayniy Airport. Credit: NASA / Bill Ingalls.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin have landed back on Earth safely after the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft faced an anomaly with the booster shortly after its launch.

The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station on 11 October.

The mid-air rocket failure has forced the mission to abort, resulting in a ballistic descent, which is sharper than the normal angle of landing.

Search-and-rescue teams were dispatched to the landing site situated south of the city of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan to support the returning astronauts who were reported to have no injuries.

NASA said: “Hague and Ovchinin were taken to a local hospital for precautionary medical checks.

“NASA noted that it will launch a thorough investigation to understand the cause of the incident.”

“They are scheduled to return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, outside of Moscow, on Friday 12 October. Hague is expected to fly home to Houston next week.”

Russian space agency Roscosmos director general Dmitry Rogozin said that a commission comprising representatives from Russia would look into the matter to find the cause of the rocket failure.

Roscosmos is also expected to continue working with NASA and other international station partner agencies to support future station operations.

NASA noted that it will launch a thorough investigation to understand the cause of the incident.