Primary Russian launch pad damaged during rocket liftoff

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome was damaged during Thursday's launch that sent two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station.

Russia leases the launch facility, which is located in Kazakhstan, and a post-launch inspection by Roscosmos officials confirmed suffered damage to its launch pad, CNN reported.

"An assessment of the condition of the launch complex is currently underway," Roscosmos officials said in a statement, adding that the "damage will be repaired in the near future."

Roscosmos already has all of the equipment and parts needed at the facility to repair the launch damage.

Video footage of the launch site indicates a service bay located beneath the launch pad became dislodged when the Soyuz 2.1a rocket initiated its booster engines during liftoff, according to Business Insider.

Part of it fell into an expansive exhaust trench, and Russian state media published the video footage showing debris flying upward during the launch.

Roscosmos also published an overhead photo of the launch site, which shows the burned remnants of a large structure lying in the launchpad's exhaust trench.

The incident did not harm the spacecraft's three crewmembers or damage the rocket and spacecraft.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the only one available for Russia to send manned crews into space but was damaged by the blast from the rocket that sent the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on its way to the ISS, where it successfully docked on the ISS on Thursday.