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Crew of 'Soyuz' Spacecraft Establish Contact After Failed Launch (theguardian.com)
A Russian-American space crew have been forced to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan after their Soyuz rocket suffered a failure shortly after launching from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in one of the most serious space incidents in recent years. From a report: The launch began as a routine affair. Missions bound for the International Space Station (ISS) have been conducted every few months for the past 20 years. But 119 seconds into Thursday's flight, mission controllers on the Nasa broadcast began to speak of a failure. Shaky footage from the capsule's cabin seen during the live broadcast appeared to show objects floating mid-launch. The crew told mission control they felt weightless, an indication of a problem during that stage of the flight. Agitated voices flooding the radio link between mission control and the capsule could be heard on the Nasa broadcast. Details and the exact sequence of events remain unclear, but shortly afterwards the crew initiated an abort and ejected their capsule from the rocket. Judging by the time at which the failure took place, it involved separation of the rocket's second stage -- just before the ship would have ignited the third stage for its final kick to exit the atmosphere. A commentator on Nasa's live broadcast later said that rescue teams had reached the capsule's landing site and the two-person crew were in "good condition."
Wings and wheels get you some nice qualities for certain missions (see the X-37 and fly-back booster designs like the XS-1), but for crew safety, it's really nice to be able to just pull the crew module up and away.
I'm going to treat this abort-crew-is-safe similarly to how I treat the passenger in cars post-auto-accident. Asking, "are you OK?" doesn't mean I expect them to be exactly as they were prior to the collision, I'm establishing if they are in a position to respond, and how serious their injuries are. I expect they might have suffered whiplash, or been battered-around enough to have bruises and scrapes. I just want to know if they're seriously injured enough to require emergency medical attention, so when I'm talking with the 911 operator I can state if an ambulance must be called or not.
My expectation is that the crew is battered and possibly has suffered minor to moderate abrasions from cabin contents shifting about. Concussion isn't even ruled out. I expect though, no deep lacerations, no major bones broken, no injuries that would classify one as a casualty.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Capt. Picard: I understand what you've done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew.
Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid.