{"id":12,"date":"2025-11-09T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T04:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/?p=12"},"modified":"2025-11-09T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T05:28:11","slug":"how-will-china-rescue-its-astronauts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/2025\/11\/09\/how-will-china-rescue-its-astronauts\/","title":{"rendered":"How will China rescue its astronauts? Russia and the U.S. took nine months\u2014how long will it take China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How will China rescue its astronauts? Russia and the U.S. took nine months\u2014how long will it take China?<\/p>\n

Recently, the world’s attention has been focused on China’s Tiangong space station, orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth.<\/p>\n

The planned triumphant return of astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie today was put on hold by an unexpected “space ghost.”<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft appears to have suffered a high-speed impact just before preparing to separate from the space station for its return journey.<\/p>\n

This suggests the heat shield of the reentry capsule, carrying the lives of three astronauts, may have been damaged.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If compromised, the capsule would face temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius during atmospheric reentry\u2014an inferno no human body could endure.<\/p>\n

The news sent shockwaves through the global space community.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

The culprit is likely a 10×8 cm metal fragment from the Soviet Union’s “Cosmos 778” satellite, drifting for 49 years\u2014a deadly killer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traveling at nearly 8 kilometers per second, it left a soybean-sized yet potentially fatal “kiss mark” on Shenzhou-20.<\/p>\n

Everyone wants to know: What will China do? How long will the astronauts remain stranded in space?<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

After all, we have “precedents”:<\/p>\n

Russian cosmonauts endured over nine months of waiting after a similar incident; American astronauts also endured nearly nine months in space.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, it’s China’s turn to answer this challenge.<\/p>\n

\"Fig.<\/p>\n

How long will it take China to rescue its astronauts?<\/h1>\n

When crisis strikes, a system’s true character often reveals itself in its initial response.<\/p>\n

America’s response is commercial tug-of-war, Russia’s is cost calculation, while China’s response was written into planning blueprints over a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

At the core of this response lies the “launch one, standby one” strategy.<\/p>\n

Starting with China’s Shenzhou-12 mission, every time astronauts board a spacecraft for space travel, an identical spacecraft and rocket stand by on the ground in a “standby” state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This time, Shenzhou-22 will step forward to fulfill the mission.<\/p>\n

This is not a project hastily launched after an accident.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, while Chen Dong and his crew were still carrying out their mission aboard the space station day and night, the return capsule and orbital module of China’s Shenzhou-22 had already completed final assembly and testing at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and the Long March rocket had passed all inspections.<\/p>\n

All it needed was a command and a few days for fueling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Fig.<\/p>\n

Some might ask: Didn’t Shenzhou-21 launch just last month?<\/p>\n

With astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang already aboard, why couldn’t Shenzhou-21 be used to bring Chen Dong and his crew back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a valid question, yet it precisely highlights the meticulous nature of China’s space rescue system.<\/p>\n

Every spacecraft docked with the space station serves as the current crew’s “lifeboat.”<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

If Shenzhou-21 were used to retrieve the Shenzhou-20 crew, the three astronauts\u2014Zhang, Lu, and the others\u2014left behind on the space station would instantly lose their life support.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such a “robbing Peter to pay Paul” scenario is absolutely prohibited in China’s aerospace contingency plans.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the answer is already clear.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Once ground assessments confirm the return of Shenzhou-20 is too risky, Shenzhou-22 will initiate launch procedures at the earliest possible time.<\/p>\n

How soon is that?<\/p>\n

According to China’s officially disclosed procedures, routine emergency preparation takes approximately 7 to 10 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means that within half a month, a brand-new “space lifeboat” could arrive at Tiangong to safely retrieve the three astronauts.<\/p>\n

This stands in stark contrast to the months-long waits often required by the U.S. and Russia.<\/p>\n

\"Fig.<\/p>\n

Why Are U.S.-Russia Rescues So Slow?<\/h1>\n

Without comparison, the value of China’s system remains unappreciated.<\/p>\n

Let’s rewind to two famous space rescue incidents and examine what unfolded behind those nine-month waits.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

The first was the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft incident in December 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A tiny debris fragment less than 1 millimeter in diameter precisely pierced the spacecraft’s radiator, causing coolant leakage.<\/p>\n

Without the cooling system, the return capsule would become an “oven” upon atmospheric reentry.<\/p>\n

Following the incident, the Russian space agency faced a critical decision.<\/p>\n

They possessed the capability to launch a new spacecraft for rescue, but this would incur the cost of an additional launch.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Ultimately, after repeated deliberations, they opted for an “economical solution”: the stranded three astronauts would “work overtime” aboard the space station for over half a year, awaiting the next scheduled rotation mission to return home aboard the new Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, the originally planned six-month mission was forcibly extended to a full year.<\/p>\n

The astronauts didn’t return to Earth until September 2023, spending over nine extra months in space.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Each day of those nine months brought potential risks to the space station and endless longing for their families.<\/p>\n

The second incident occurred in 2024 with the U.S. Boeing Starliner spacecraft.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This highly anticipated commercial spacecraft encountered multiple failures during its first crewed flight, including multiple thruster malfunctions and persistent helium leaks.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Two veteran astronauts\u201462-year-old Barry Wilmore and 60-year-old Sunita Williams\u2014found themselves stranded at the space station.<\/p>\n

Their journey home became a chaotic stew of commercial, political, and technical challenges.<\/p>\n

Boeing itself couldn’t dispatch a second spacecraft on short notice.<\/p>\n

Who to turn to? Bow to rival SpaceX, or seek help from Russia amid delicate relations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Days slipped away amid hesitation and coordination.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Ultimately, NASA decided to have SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft carry out the rescue mission.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But a new problem arose: the Dragon’s limited seating capacity meant retrieving these two astronauts would leave the U.S. crew on the space station understaffed, unable to complete scheduled scientific tasks.<\/p>\n

Thus, they had no choice but to wait until the next crew arrived in March 2025 to hitch a ride home.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

What began as an 8-day mission turned into nearly 9 months of drifting in space.<\/p>\n

When Sunita Williams reappeared in public, media captured her visibly haggard appearance, raising concerns about her health.<\/p>\n

These two cases\u2014one trapped by cost constraints, the other by commercial competition\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

This unexpected collision posed a severe test for the Shenzhou-20 crew, yet it became an unforeseen “real-world test” for China’s entire space program.<\/p>\n

The world is watching to see how China will deliver its response in this race against time.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

The answer may unfold within the coming weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How will China rescue its astronauts? Russia and the U. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jiler.cn\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}