Three Chinese taikonauts stuck in orbit after being hit by space debris

Three Chinese astronauts missions Shenzhou-20 stuck in orbit after their capsule was hit by space debris. The return to Earth has been postponed indefinitely.

Incident in orbit: Shenzhou-20 mission at risk

At the Chinese orbital station “Tiangong” an emergency has occurred: mission return module Shenzhou-20 was injured after a collision with space debris. Three cosmonauts – (in China they are called taikonauts) – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui And Wang Jie — found themselves locked in orbit, unable to return to Earth.

The return of the crew was planned for November 5but due to the incident, the launch of the capsule was canceled. Now the cosmonauts, together with the arriving shift, are conducting a detailed check of the ship, “centimeter by centimeter» examining the hull and docking points. The main danger is a possible violation of the tightness of the capsule, which must withstand the descent through dense layers of the atmosphere.

Garbage fragments are a threat to all humanity

According to experts, the cause of the accident was a fragment of one of more than 19 thousand large objects of space debris orbiting the Earth. These debris move at speeds up to 27 thousand kilometers per hourand even a pea-sized particle can penetrate the hull of a ship.

The incident once again showed the scale of the problem of orbital pollution: about 60% of the debris is formed from the destruction of satellites and old rocket stages. China has been actively developing its orbital program in recent years, but now it itself is faced with a threat that NASA and ESA experts previously warned about.

Beijing remains silent

Officials China refused to give detailed comments, limiting themselves to a statement that “risk assessment and technical damage analysis” Chinese engineers are considering several scenarios – from repairing the capsule in orbit to organizing emergency mission to evacuate the crew.

Sources in the Chinese media claim that the astronauts are provided with supplies of water, air and food, but the psychological stress is growing. This is the first time in the history of the Chinese manned program that the crew was isolated due to external impact.

Dangerous orbit of the future

The incident at Tiangong reminds us that even high technology is powerless against the chaos created by humanity in orbit. Every new satellite, every destroyed rocket stage increases the risk of such incidents happening again. Shenzhou-20 became a wake-up call for all space powers – from the USA to India – that junk orbit ceased to be an abstraction and turned into a real threat to life.

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