The three astronauts who entered and three who left China’s Tiangong space station
The Shenzhou-21 crew is isolated on China’s Tiangong space station after three of their colleagues were brought back to Earth on the wrong ship. Astronauts now have no safe way to return home.
There are three more Chinese astronauts trapped in space, after the successful rescue of three other colleagues last week.
The latest development highlights a potential flaw in China’s space protocols that could be putting astronauts unnecessarily at risk.
Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang make up the most recently stranded Shenzhou-21 mission trio.
As reported by , they have been living aboard China’s Tiangong space station since October 31, shortly after being launched into space by a Long March 2F rocket. THE
Their mission was to replace Shenzhou-20’s resident crew of taikonauts. Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dongwho were originally scheduled to return to Earth on November 5th.
However, after a successful witness pass period, the Shenzhou-20 crew’s return trip was canceled at the last minute when a piece of suspicious space debris struck their return capsule.
After tests revealed a crack in the stricken spacecraft’s observation window, the Shenzhou-20 crew boarded the return capsule designated for the Shenzhou-21 crew and successfully returned to Earth last Friday.
Many of those who celebrated the return of the Shenzhou-20 crew did not remember the Shenzhou-21 crew now has no way of returning to Earth.
“I’m very happy that the Shenzhou-20 crew made it home, but it’s a little disconcerting that the replacement crew apparently doesn’t have a vehicle to return to Earth,” he said. Victoria Samsonchief director of space security and stability at the Colorado-based Secure World Foundation, told .
We just have to wait for solutions – and there is still time. The Shenzhou-21 crew is expected to complete its mission within six months, as originally planned.
As a last resort, in the event of an emergency, it would be possible for the now stranded crew to return home in the damaged Shenzhou-20 capsule in an emergency scenario.
As Live Science points out, it is currently unclear why CMSA decided to bring the Shenzhou-20 crew before a new capsule was sent into space. Due to the limited information China reveals about its missions, we may never know the full explanation.
