WASHINGTON 11 Oct (ANA) - Astronauts are to make an emergency landing after their Russian Soyuz rocket malfunctioned on lift-off to the International Space Station.

 

Nasa said there was an "issue with the booster" and the "crew is returning to Earth in a ballistic descent mode".

 

Search and rescue teams are in the air and heading towards the expected touchdown location, Nasa added.

 

The rocket took off from Kazakhstan with Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague on board.(ANA)

FA/ANA/11 October 2018----