Two astronauts have been forced to make an emergency landing after their Russian-made booster rocket malfunctioned after takeoff. The astronauts—Russian Alexey Ovchinin and American Nick Hague—took off for the International Space Station early Thursday morning from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz booster rocket carrying their capsule suffered a failure minutes after takeoff and they were forced to return to earth. Their lives “are not in danger,” according Russian state TV, and they’ve landed safely in Kazakhstan. In a statement, NASA said: “The crew are in good condition and in contact. Search and rescue teams are en route to the landing location and we await further updates.”
