Space News #9

[ottarrus]

Three Chinese 'taikonauts' are stranded in space after their return capsule was hit by debris.

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

Three Chinese taikonauts — Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong — will be extending their stay aboard China's Tiangong space station after their return capsule was struck by a presumed piece of orbital debris on Wednesday.

www.livescience.com

 

[To Tha Moon!]

Who's putting together a rescue mission?

 

[AndrewW]

Who's putting together a rescue mission?

The Pioneers will if there is a doggie with them.

 

[Condottiere]

Not if they run out of rations.

 

[ottarrus]

This was just announced so I don't know who is gonna be available to help.
The Russians usually have something on the pad, but I don't know who might have something launch-ready within the time window.

 

[Condottiere]

One of their launch pads has defaulted on it's electrical bill.

 

[CordwainerFish]

In space-adjacent news, there's a fairly hefty geomagnetic storm in progress, which has practical consequences for interests as diverse as aurora hunting and amateur radio:

G3 Storm in Progress | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

www.swpc.noaa.gov

 

[rinku]

This was just announced so I don't know who is gonna be available to help.
The Russians usually have something on the pad, but I don't know who might have something launch-ready withing the time window.

It doesn't appear any rescue mission is needed. The article says they're likely to return with the next scheduled Chinese mission.

Sounds almost identical to the 2023 IISS situation where the return capsule was unsafe. Keep in mind this isn't space tourism, but professional taikonauts in a proper long term occupancy space station.

 

[ottarrus]

An update I just saw today.
The PRC's space agency has launched an unmanned 'lifeboat' to rendezvous with the Tiangong Station, where 3 'taikonauts' have been stranded for a week. The crew of Mission Shenzhow-21 will return to Earth as scheduled in Spring 2026.
Link below:

Marooned no more! Stranded Chinese astronauts finally have a way home following launch of unmanned 'lifeboat'

China has launched an unmanned "lifeboat" to the Tiangong space station, ending a month-long fiasco. The spacecraft will eventually ferry home the marooned Shenzhou-21 crew, who have been stuck without a return capsule for over a week.

www.livescience.com

 

[rinku]

Hardly a "fiasco". Space junk collisions are going to happen now and then, and it does seem that China probably had contingency plans for the situation, for them to have prepped this within a month.

Professionals doing things professionally.

 

[DeepSpaceAdventures]

I'm surprised this is not big news here, but this night, we're going back to the moon!
Artemis 2 is scheduled to launch at 22:24 BST / 00:24 CEST to bring 4 people to the moon orbit.
Livestreams will start about 6h before launch, just check the NASA or ESA pages and social media accounts.

This should press all the buttons of the Pioneer backers!

And no, this is not an Aprils fool joke.

 

[Anstett]

I follow one of the Artemis engineers here:

https://bsky.app/profile/jthutt.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3mif4onnqoz46

I interviewed Slade Peters who is(was) in charge of the recovery missions for the capsules.

 

[AndrewW]

I'm surprised this is not big news here, but this night, we're going back to the moon!
Artemis 2 is scheduled to launch at 22:24 BST / 00:24 CEST to bring 4 people to the moon orbit.
Livestreams will start about 6h before launch, just check the NASA or ESA pages and social media accounts.

This should press all the buttons of the Pioneer backers!

And no, this is not an Aprils fool joke.

Just a small note here, the official NASA coverage started 10 hours and 39 minutes before launch.

In case someone is interested:

NASA TV live stream

 

[DeepSpaceAdventures]

Just a small note here, the official NASA coverage started 10 hours and 39 minutes before launch.

In case someone is interested:

NASA TV live stream

You are right. I've phrased this poorly. What I meant was the guided coverage by hosts, not the streaming.
And it will start in a few minutes from now.