Baikonur, we've had a problem…

[Guy Profumo]

Failure of booster on stage one boosters for ISS shuttle flight reported.

Communications now curtailed from capsule after crew report being in "weightlessness" before second stage is ignited.

Reported to be attempting ballistic emergency landing.

[Gangster Octopus]

Hopefully they're safe.

[Sits]

Fingers crossed that implies they are.

[Guy Profumo]

Down and safe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45822845


Manned excursions to ISS will now, of course, be in hiatus for some time, and the station may well be abandoned and left unoccupied for a while.

Dick Pickle to the rescue then?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Jesus, what the fuck has happened to the Russian Space industry? Things hit a new low when the found a hole drilled in a soyuz capsule, but this is ridiculous. I don't know if the Space station can be abandoned. It needs continuous maintenance. Parts of it are really old, and predate the ISS by up to a decade. It's going to be six to eight months before the american commercial capsules are ready, but I suspect that the timetables are going to have to be accelerated.