Astronaut Alexander Gerst, who is one of three crew members currently aboard the International Space Station, captured the dramatic failed launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket in a stunning series of photographs.

The photos, which Gerst posted to Twitter, clearly show the trail of the Soyuz rocket which on Thursday malfunctioned, forcing cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and astronaut Nick Hague to make an emergency landing from over 50 kilometers (31 miles). The craft’s emergency system worked flawlessly though and both landed unharmed.

Bin froh, dass es unseren Freunden gut geht. Danke an >1000 Rettungskräfte! Heute hat sich wieder gezeigt, wie großartig die Soyuz ist: Trotz Fehlstart wurde die Crew sicher zur Erde zurückgebracht. Raumfahrt ist hart. Aber wir müssen weitermachen, zum Wohle der Menschheit. pic.twitter.com/0J5qQCn8gB — Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) October 11, 2018

In his tweet, Gerst said he was happy to hear that his friends were doing well and thanked the rescue workers which tended to them at the landing site about 20 to 25 km from Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan.

READ MORE: Emergency escape at 6000 km/h: How near miss Soyuz rocket accident unfolded (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

"Today we have seen again how great Soyuz is," Gerst wrote, adding that despite the failure, the crew were able to be safely brought back to earth. “Space travel is difficult, but we must keep going, for the benefit of humanity,” he added.

Amazing. A German astronaut aboard the International Space Station caught the failed #Russian Soyuz rocket launch on camera as it reached space. It looks like the moment the rocket malfunctioned.#Soyuzhttps://t.co/ZPSORErBvM — Patrick Reevell (@Reevellp) October 11, 2018

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