Tip Sheets
Soyuz rocket failure and emergency landing signals ‘mature’ spaceflight tech
October 11, 2018
Media Contact
A U.S.-Russian crew is safe after their Russian Soyuz rocket failed during its launch to the International Space Station on Thursday — forcing a ballistic re-entry to Earth and an emergency landing. While the rocket’s failure raised questions about what went wrong, the crew’s successful emergency landing is a good sign for spaceflight tech, according to former NASA Chief Technologist.
Mason Peck
Professor of astronautical engineering
Mason Peck is professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University and former NASA Chief Technologist.
Peck says:
“The good news, of course, is that the crew landed safely. And that’s part of an important story here: the failure responses of the hardware and the operations team were successful.
“Much like Apollo 13, whose crew returned to Earth despite a catastrophic failure of the command module, this event shows that human spaceflight technology is mature enough to be safe despite inevitable imperfections.”
