"China is preparing to rescue three astronauts who took refuge in the Tiangong space station after a suspected space-junk strike on their spacecraft last week, Chinese officials said on Tuesday. In a statement, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE) said engineers have carried out extensive tests on a backup capsule that they plan to use to bring the three men back to Earth."
"All work is progressing steadily and orderly according to plan, the agency said. China's Tiangong, which spans some 180 feet, typically hosts a crew of three astronauts in six-month stints. A new three-person crew arrived at the space station to take over from the stranded astronauts in October. But because of the space debris emergency, both crews remain onboard. While unusual, the station is designed to support two crews in orbit simultaneously, CMSE said."
Six astronauts currently occupy the Tiangong space station after a suspected space-junk strike damaged a return spacecraft for three crew members. Engineers have performed extensive tests on a backup capsule intended to bring the three astronauts back to Earth, and operations are proceeding steadily and according to plan, CMSE said. Tiangong normally hosts three-person crews for six-month missions, and a replacement crew arrived in October. Because of the debris emergency, both the Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 crews are living and working together, conducting in-orbit experiments while the station supports two crews simultaneously, though space is tighter than usual.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]