BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan—The problem came two minutes into the flight: The rocket carrying an American and a Russian to the International Space Station failed on Oct. 10, triggering an emergency that sent their capsule into a steep, harrowing fall back to Earth.
The crew landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan, but the aborted mission dealt another blow to the troubled Russian space program that currently serves as the only link to deliver astronauts to the orbiting outpost.
