Chinese astronauts install debris protection aboard space station

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By Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Chinese astronauts have installed protection against “space junk” aboard the permanently inhabited station Tiangong, according to China’s manned spaceflight authorities, a month after a docked vessel was damaged for the first time.

Early last month, a tiny piece of debris travelling at high velocity cracked the window of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft’s return capsule, right before the vessel was set to leave Tiangong carrying a trio of Chinese astronauts back to Earth.

The damage was deemed severe enough that China’s space authorities made the unprecedented decision to delay the return and then send the crew back on the only other available vessel, the Shenzhou-21, which triggered the country’s first emergency launch mission as the Shenzhou-21 crew was left without a flightworthy vessel for 11 days.

The entire saga, unprecedented for China’s rapidly advancing space programme, highlighted the risks posed by space junk to countries aiming to explore, and eventually colonise, the reaches beyond Earth.

The disintegration of old, defunct satellites, mishaps with active ones and anti-satellite weapon tests can create vast fields of space debris that remain in orbit for years.

To prevent a repeat of last month’s emergency, two members of the Shenzhou-21’s three-person crew went on a spacewalk on Tuesday, installing the debris protection using Tiangong’s robotic arm, according to a statement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office.

The astronauts also inspected and photographed the damaged window of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which is still docked at Tiangong, waiting to be sent back uncrewed to a landing site in China after which it will be further examined.

The vessel’s cracked window could be reinforced by the Shenzhou-21 crew on future spacewalks, according to CMSEO.

(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista;Editing by Alison Williams)