OREANDA-NEWS. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding the Order of Courage to NASA astronaut Nicholas Haig. The document is published on the legal information portal. The decree notes that he was awarded "for the courage and high professionalism shown in the performance of official duties in conditions associated with an increased risk to life in the event of an emergency at the Baikonur Cosmodrome".

Nick Haig was supposed to arrive on the ISS on October 11, 2018, along with his American colleague Christina Cook and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin. However, then the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket was unsuccessful. The crew reported an accident almost 3 minutes after launch. As a result, the ship undocked from the launch vehicle and landed in Kazakhstan. According to the head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin, the reason was an unintentional mistake in assembling a rocket.

Ovchinin and Haig weren't injured. A rescue capsule with them landed 20–25 km from the city of Zhezkazgan. A special commission has been created to investigate the accident.