Rocket carrying two astronauts to International Space Station makes emergency landing

NASA had initally tweeted about the launch of the rocket:

LIFTOFF! Shooting into the sky at 4:40am ET, the Soyuz rocket carrying @AstroHague and Alexey Ovchinin leaves Earth on a four-orbit, six-hour journey to the @Space_Station. Watch: https://t.co/BjMDNrNorR pic.twitter.com/0Cfm0Uu2Jx

— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018

However, it later tweeted that there had been an issue with the booster from the launch and that the rocket would returning to Earth in ‘ballistic descend mode’.

The space agency later tweeted that search and rescue teams were headed to site where the astronauts were expected to land.

Search and rescue teams are in the air and heading towards the expected touchdown location for the Soyuz spacecraft returning to Earth carrying two crew members. Watch live updates: https://t.co/mzKW5uDsTi pic.twitter.com/gGYNEP2fIr

— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2018

The Soyuz made an emergency landing near the city of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan. Rescue teams reached the spot and confirmed that the two astronauts were safe.

with inputs from Reuters