Russia blames rocket failure on mistake during assembly

A Russian official says an investigation has found that a failed rocket launch three weeks ago was caused by a sensor that was damaged during assembly.

The Soyuz-FG rocket carrying a NASA astronaut and his Russian crewmate failed two minutes into the Oct. 11 flight, sending their emergency capsule into a sharp fall back to Earth. The two men landed safely.

A top Russian official earlier blamed the failure on a malfunction of a sensor but didn't explain why it didn't work.

Oleg Skorobogatov, who led the probe into the accident, told reporters Thursday that the investigation has found that the sensor was damaged during the final assembly at the launchpad in Kazakhstan.

Russian rockets are manufactured in Russia but the final assembly takes place at the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome.