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Russian Soyuz rocket carrying three astronauts bound for the
International Space Station experienced a rare abort on the launch pad on Thursday (March 21), delaying the liftoff while the crew waited expectantly inside their spacecraft. The abort occurred just 21 seconds before the Soyuz rocket was to launch
NASA astronaut Tracey Caldwell Dyson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus to the International Space Station (ISS) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff was scheduled for 9:21 a.m. EDT (1321 GMT). "The Soyuz launch to the space station has been aborted," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said during live commentary. "So, no visitors to the International Space Station today. The next opportunity to launch, pending resolution of what happened today, would be Saturday morning," he added. "No reason has yet been given for the abort," Navias said. Related: International Space Station — Everything you need to know Navias said the abort was triggered by an automatic system shortly before engine ignition as two umbilical connections were retracted away from the rocket ahead of the planned launch. Roscosmos , Russia's space agency, sent engineers to the launch pad shortly after the abort to safe the vehicle so its crew could be extracted. "The vehicle is safe, all fueling operations have ceased," Navias said. "All safety commands have been provided onboard the rocket so there's no danger to the crew. They're perfectly safe." NASA's Mission Control center radioed news of the launch abort to astronauts aboard the ISS shortly after it occurred. Flight controllers made it clear the Soyuz crew was safe. "Station copies, aborted," station commander Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency replied. "Most importantly, Station copies crew are safe."
BREAKING space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Russia's Soyuz rockets and crewed Soyuz
spacecraft are workhorse transport vehicles that regularly fly cosmonauts and astronauts to and from the ISS. Roscosmos has used the spacecraft for crewed flights throughout the 24-year history of the ISS, as well as during its previous Mir space station program. An abort just before launch is exceedingly rare. Dyson, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, are set to launch on a mission to join the ongoing crew on the International Space Station. Dyson and Novitskiy plan to spend six months aboard the space station as part of its Expedition 71 crew, while Vasilevskaya will make a 12-day spacecraft and return home with the outgoing Expedition 70 crew. — Soyuz spacecraft: Backbone of the Russian space program — Leaky Soyuz spacecraft at space station returns to Earth in speedy landing — Facts and information about Roscosmos, Russia's space agency Exactly when the three space travelers will launch, however, is unclear. While Roscosmos has said the next window to launch the trio will open on Saturday, engineers with Soyuz rocket maker Energia will have to understand why today's Soyuz launch aborted and make any fixes that may be required. NASA has pledged to share updates as they are received from Roscosmos and Energia. Meanwhile, in
Florida another rocket is counting down to launch to the ISS today. An uncrewed
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship are scheduled to launch more than 2 tons of fresh supplies to the ISS from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff for that mission is scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT) and should continue as planned, Navias said. "The preliminary word is that the Falcon 9 launch of the CRS-30 resupply mission to the station will likely proceed as planned today," he added. NASA and SpaceX will provide a livestream of the CRS-30 cargo launch , beginning at 4:35 p.m. EDT (2035 GMT).