A Brief History
On October 11, 2018, the Russian manned space mission, Soyuz MS-10, suffered a booster failure shortly after liftoff, necessitating an emergency abort. Incredibly, both crew members survived the successful abort and reentry to safely land in Kazakhstan.
Digging Deeper
The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft reached an altitude of 58 miles, not quite reaching outer space, and landed about 12 miles from the launch site. An error in assembly was blamed for the mishap, and the next flight, MS-11, went off successfully on December 3, 2018.
Another example of a successful abort procedure took place on September 26, 1983, when the Soviet Soyuz T-10a suffered a launch pad fire and explosion, with the two-man crew firing an escape system only six seconds before the massive explosion. This escape via an emergency jettison system is the only time such a system has been used successfully.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Are the dangerous and expensive space programs worth it?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Kingston, A.J. Soviet Space Program: Sputnik, Vostok, Soyuz & Luna. A.J.Kingston, 2023.
Sparrow, Giles. Spaceflight, 2nd Edition: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Curiosity. DK, 2019.
