Three extra Chinese language astronauts, or taikonauts, are actually marooned in area following the profitable return of their previously stranded comrades. The newest improvement highlights a possible flaw in China‘s area protocols, specialists say, which may put astronauts needlessly in danger.
The newest stranded trio — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — are the crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission. They’ve been residing onboard China’s Tiangong space station since Oct. 31, shortly after they had been launched into space by a Long March 2F rocket. Their mission was to take over from the station’s incumbent Shenzhou-20 crew, made up of taikonauts Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong, who had been initially as a result of return to Earth on Nov. 5.
However whereas many had been fast to rejoice the return of the Shenzhou-20 crew, who accomplished the longest single spaceflight by any taikonauts (204 days), this now signifies that the Shenzhou-21 crew has no manner of returning to Earth themselves, Dwell Science’s sister website Space.com reported.
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