Op ‘Save ISS crew’: Paratroopers deployed to Soyuz capsule emergency landing site

Military troopers parachuted to the rescue of two ISS-bound spacemen after their rocket was forced into a dramatic emergency landing. They pulled the men out of the capsule after enduring harsh g-force during 'ballistic re-entry'.

Search and rescue crews rushed to assist the astronauts after their mission to the International Space Station (ISS) took a horrific turn on Thursday morning, when their spacecraft was forced into an emergency landing due to rocket failure. It took just 7 minutes after launch to scramble the rescue.

Four helicopters were sent to help the men, but they needed over an hour to reach the site of the crash. So paratroopers were dispatched too. The squads were ejected from the An-26 aircraft to the location where the astronauts’ capsule hit some 25 km (15 miles) from Zhezkazgan, in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft crewmembers - cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA’s Nick Hague - miraculously escaped the sudden touchdown uninjured. The crew members are being examined further, however, as they had to endure crippling g-forces on their way down.

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