ISS crew make emergency landing after Soyuz rocket malfunctions during launch

UPDATE: US and Russian International Space Station crew made an emergency landing after their rocket suffered a booster malfunction during launch in Kazakhstan.

THE Russian Soyuz rocket carrying two crew members made an emergency landing after suffering a booster malfunction during launch in Kazakhstan.

NASA confirmed the crew had landed safely back on earth at 8.23pm (AEST).

Russia's Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft carrying the members of the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 57/58, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, blasts off to the ISS from the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Baikonur on October 11, 2018. Picture: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

Search and rescue teams reported they were in contact with the Soyuz crew, who said they were in good condition.

The Soyuz capsule has landed back on Earth carrying two crew members. Search and rescue teams are in contact with the crew and are en route to the landing location. Live updates: https://t.co/mzKW5uDsTi pic.twitter.com/G3IuAztH6O

— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018

They landed about 20km east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. Spacecraft returning from the ISS normally land in that region.

Search and rescue teams were heading to the area to recover the crew.

Smoke rise as the boosters of first stage of the Soyuz-FG rocket with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, separate after the launch. Picture: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-10 spaceship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Picture: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

Earlier NASA warned the Soyuz capsule was returning to Earth “via a ballistic descent, which is a sharper angle of landing compared to normal”.

It said there was an issue with “the booster from today’s launch”.

Russian Soyuz rocket suffered malfunction during launch, new ISS crew to make emergency landing approximately in Kazakhstan - reports https://t.co/ci9ehrGquS pic.twitter.com/GUOVuIEom1

— RT (@RT_com) October 11, 2018

Russian Roscosmos space agency and NASA said the three-stage Soyuz booster suffered an emergency shutdown of its second stage.

The rocket is carrying a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut who had set off for a six-month mission at the International Space Station, on a relatively rare two-man launch.

U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are counting down to their 4:40am ET Thursday launch to the station. #AskNASA https://t.co/5RYgMXNJ50 pic.twitter.com/tjiHgw0hbX

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) October 11, 2018

NASA rookie Nick Hague and Roscosmo second-time flyer Aleksey Ovchinin blasted off for the orbital lab from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as scheduled at 7.40pm (AEST).

The launch failure marks an unprecedented mishap for the Russian space program, which has been dogged by a string of launch failures and other incidents.

“Thank God, the crew is alive,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when it became clear that the crew had landed safely.