STAR CITY. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin, who on returned to the Earth on October 3 after a 203-day expedition aboard the International Space Station (ISS), said that last year's accident did not dent his confidence in Russian equipment.
"During our March liftoff, I did not think that we would have something go wrong again, and I was certain that everything would go as normal. And so it did," Ovchinin told a post-flight press conference at the Cosmonaut Training Center on Wednesday.
He said he had not decided yet whether to celebrate October 11 as his second birthday. "The anniversary is in two days, yes. So far I have not decided whether to celebrate, we'll see," Ovchinin said.
He and NASA astronaut Nick Hague were to arrive at the ISS on October 11, 2018, but the launch of a Russian Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur did not go to plan because of a faulty sensor. As a result, one of the upper-stage side units, rather than breaking away as it should have, turned around and hit the rocket, changing the direction of its flight. The activated escape system triggered the reentry capsule with Hague and Ovchinin, who landed safely near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan. Soyuz rockets were temporarily grounded.
This was the first Soyuz accident in 35 years.
The American and the Russian were able to reach the ISS in March of this year.