Astronauts stuck in space, terrifying!

[Allnewtometoo]

I realise this happened a couple of months ago but I've only come across it today, and they're still there.

They went for 8 days, and likely to be there for 8 months.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4yqepr469o

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar they've already launched two Starliner capsules and landed them without anyone on board.

Saying that, both of those test flights had numerous problems. It's debatable that they should have waited until they'd had a completely successful unmanned test flight before sending people up in that thing.

I'm going to keep posting Sunita's video tour of the ISS until everyone on this thread has watched it, I had forgotten how brilliant it was and how amazing she is:

But they’re not in danger, there’s no greater risk to their lives. Just that NASA has to work out a way to get them back and they may have to stay on the ISS for a while.
When I posted I was thinking I’d quite like to swap. No rain, no mud, no very noisy building work going on opposite….. it’s beginning to sound more and more attractive.
( and I don’t understand complaining about a salad? I don’t think they get salad on the ISS, seems to be pre packed food but you can’t have everything)

I've had a quick Google and it seems that the Starliner can't undock without crew on board but they may be able to update the software to enable it to undock autonomously, in which case it would be able to return unmanned.

@JudgeBurrito ”Just because some decided to get married, buy a house with a white picket fence, and spend their life shopping in Waitrose and dropping kids off at clubs doesn't mean everyone is living the same suburban lifestyle..!”

I think that’s very unfair. There are so many things in the world to get excited about. So, so many. Just because people don’t understand or take an interest in spacey-type things doesn’t mean they’re boring and ‘suburban’. My interest in space extends to some lovely space posters I once saw, the Lego Milky Way, and human interest stories like this.

Although I might actually be boring and suburban according to my kids who are living wildly exciting lives.

The sense in which it actually is a bit like the Titan submersible situation is that the astronauts have gone into an environment completely hostile to life, completely reliant on the vehicle they're in, and something has gone wrong with that vehicle (the one they travelled in). The thought of something going wrong like that in such a hostile environment is terrifying. However, this wasn't a catastrophic and fatal failure, and the place they are now in and will be stuck in for 8 months is fine - they'll be as safe as it's possible for any astronaut to be, so in that sense it's quite different. It might not be great for their health though.

I do feel a bit sorry for the two astronauts who would have been coming up to the ISS in the next trip, but who may now have to stay behind to leave two seats empty in that vehicle for the stranded astronauts to come home in. As I understand it, the stranded astronauts may basically end up taking the ISS jobs of those two people for a few months.

They are experienced astronauts who have been up to space before and knew it was a test mission. They have plenty of supplies and a plan B for getting down in a Space X ship next year. This is a bigger blow for Boeing.

Really, you can't imagine taking issue with this?!

It’s part of their job, that things might not go to plan, considering the mission as someone said above, this is a pretty good result considering some of the possible outcomes, they will have known that there is the possibility of being stuck for longer.

Well there's a whole saga involved with the way they got there, the ship that can't undock but is leaking helium (hydrogen? I don't know I clearly didn't take notes) ... the space nerd in my house is very interested in it!

It was a test trip, so they went with the full knowledge something could go wrong. They went to see if it did. It's the point of testing things.

If they'd gone on a jolly and were now stuck, then it would be much worse.

"Taking issue, life admin and childcare" 🤣🤣 pmsl

You know these people are astronauts not admin assistants don't you?

I don't know why you think I was using 'suburban' as a slur, I also live in downtown suburbia. The thing I'm criticising is people who don't have the imagination or curiosity to consider that other people live (and enjoy) lives that are the total opposite to their own. Personally I can't imagine not having a basic general knowledge of things like space, dinosaurs, the ocean, geography etc.

I've just watched that tour of ISS on yt someone mentioned above. It's really interesting, but not sure I'd like to be stuck up there for any length of time, let alone months

They do have plenty of food and supplies though but only 4 sleeping capsules

Life admin!? They are astronauts.

The return flight must have been booked with BA.

I think it is terrifying. I got a bit claustrophobic when I was on the island of Kos and all flights were cancelled.

I mean I would never go up in the first place, but to go anywhere for 8 days and have to stay 8 months is terrifying.

And thanks for posting I hadn't heard about this and found it all interesting.

@rainbowunicorn I've just looked back at the link as when I read it earlier, and posted it, there was no mention of food, clothing etc
Another poster commented that food wasn't mentioned. Looking now, the article us considerably longer with mire detail than I originally saw.

I dont watch TV, so dont see news. Yes, I must be very sheltered.

I love knowing about people and how they are different from me. But not necessarily the ‘things’.

So astronauts, yes. Space, no. How they eat/wash/socialise/write/think/etc yes. The physics of space? Nah.

Dinosaurs a hard no. People who dug them up, yes.

It’s always the human aspect for me. The titanic sub? No. The reasons and psychology behind the desire to go down there? Yes.

Can you imagine if nuclear war broke out while they were there and there was no planet to come home to.

There is someone there now that has been there for 1,000 days.

@MossGrowsFat thank you, us is interesting and I now know more about the ISS than before.

Helluva story to tell when they get back.

I regularly see early articles on the BBC that get updated as they write more, I wouldn’t worry about people seeing a later version. Early versions are often brief, just to get something there to be shared and discussed.

Do they have library books outstanding?