That was not the case for Soyuz, as it was forced to return to the Earth in a ballistic descent.
Ballistic descent uses the atmospheric drag to slow down the spacecraft - in other words, the atmospheric air resistance pushes up against the falling rocket.
The Soyuz booster aborted after its launch, after which the crew switched to the mode of a
ballistic descent. The manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft landed in the Kazakh steppe.
The capsule jettisoned from the booster and went into a
ballistic descent, landing at a sharper than normal angle and subjecting the crew to heavy G-forces.
Parachutes were eventually deployed as their capsule went into a "
ballistic descent", landing at a much sharper than normal angle, according to Nasa.
The Soyuz capsule returned to Earth via a
ballistic descent, which is a sharper angle of landing compared to normal.
The Soyuz capsule is returning to Earth via a
ballistic descent, which is a sharper angle of landing compared to normal.
Summary: Moscow [Russia], October 11 (Sputnik/ANI): A carrier failure occurred during the launch of the Russian Soyuz MS-10 manned spacecraft from the Baikonur space center to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, which made the capsule with the crew return to Earth in a
ballistic descent mode.
The men were forced into a "
ballistic descent", with their capsule landing a few hundred miles north of Baikonur.
A computer software error probably sent a Russian spacecraft into a rare
ballistic descent that subjected the three men on board to chest-crushing gravity loads that made it hard to breathe, space experts said yesterday.
Eleven minutes later, it added, "The crew is returning to Earth in a
ballistic descent mode," meaning that it was falling without propulsion and that its direction was determined only by the craft's momentum.
