Problems with the rocket

Mission to the ISS aborted 20 seconds before launch

(Bild: AP)

The launch of a "Soyuz" carrier rocket with two female space travelers from Belarus and the USA and a Russian cosmonaut in a space capsule to the ISS space station was aborted unexpectedly on Thursday. The reason given was technical problems.

The carrier rocket with the "Soyuz MS-25" spacecraft was due to take off from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in the steppes of the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan at 14:21 CET. However, 20 seconds before the planned liftoff, the mission was terminated, as was shown in the live broadcast on NASA TV.

"Voltage drop in power source"
The Russian space agency Roskosmos later cited technical problems as the reason: "A voltage drop in a chemical power source" was detected shortly before the launch, according to Roskosmos boss Yuri Borisov. The crew was safely removed from the capsule. The next possible launch would be on Saturday at the earliest, according to NASA-TV.

The Soyuz rocket on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan(Bild: AP)

Marina Vasilevskaya and her colleagues were ready for take-off in the capsule.(Bild: AP)

Meanwhile, in the USA, a Falcon 9 launcher from SpaceX lifted off on schedule on Thursday afternoon (local time) from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida to take almost three tons of equipment and supplies to the ISS.

First Belarusian woman to fly into space
On board the Soyuz launch vehicle were Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky. The 33-year-old Vasilevskaya, who works as a flight attendant for the Belarusian company Belavia, is the first woman from her country to fly into space. It was also the first time that two women were to fly together on board a Soyuz capsule to the outpost of humanity 400 kilometers above the earth. There had already been one female duo on a Soyuz return from the ISS.

Cooperation despite sanctions
Cooperation in space travel continues despite the US sanctions against Russia and Belarus and despite the political tensions between the countries. "Despite the turbulence, we are continuing our international cosmic cooperation," said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, who also heads the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in Baikonur.