A Russian spacecraft traveling to the International Space Station Thursday had to make an emergency landing when a rocket engine failed to fire. It was the latest in a recent series of failures for the Russian space program, which is also used by the U.S. to carry its astronauts to the station. United States astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely about 20 kilometers from Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The city is about 450 kilometers from the Russia’s Baikonur space center, which Russia operates through an agreement with the Republic of Kazakhstan. Both the U.S. space agency NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos reported that the two were quickly recovered from the landing area by rescue crews. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “Thank God the crew is alive” after they had landed safely.