Chinese Taikonauts Stranded

[Ninthace]

Three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, have been temporarily stranded in space after their return capsule was struck by a piece of suspected "space junk" hours before it was due to depart. Officials are investigating exactly what happened, but so far, there is no indication of how much damage the craft sustained or when the crew will return to Earth.

Three Chinese astronauts stranded in space after debris hits their return capsule

[B Fraser]

That's rather ironic given that the nation who has destroyed satellites using weapons, creating showers of orbital fragments is................China.

[TURIN]

Originally Posted by B Fraser

That's rather ironic given that the nation who has destroyed satellites using weapons, creating showers of orbital fragments is................China.

They're not the only ones, USA, RUSSIA and INDIA have also tested ASAT weapons.

[SkyJoker]

Is SpaceX going help?

[judyjudy]

Send up a SpaceX Dragon with a Uber sign on the outside.

[TWT]

The surge pricing would be 'astronomical'....

[B Fraser]

Originally Posted by TURIN

They're not the only ones, USA, RUSSIA and INDIA have also tested ASAT weapons.

The India test was in low earth orbit where the debris would re-enter and burn up within a few weeks of the event. All debris was confirmed as having returned to earth in June 2022. The USA have banned testing since 2022.

One Chinese ASAT test has generated a cloud of debris estimated at 40,000 pieces of shrapnel in a roughly polar orbit.