S8 Ep161: Space Safety Crisis: China's Space Station Lacked Emergency Lifeboat — Rick Fisher — Fisher analyzes a recent spacecraft accident wherein high-velocity space debris cracked a porthole on the Chinese space station, forcing unmanned return of the Shenzhou 2

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John Batchelor

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4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Space Safety Crisis: China's Space Station Lacked Emergency Lifeboat — Rick Fisher — Fisher analyzes a recent spacecraft accident wherein high-velocity space debris cracked a porthole on the Chinese space station, forcing unmanned return of the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft. Fisher criticizes the Chinese space program for failing to maintain a backup "lifeboat" spacecraft attached to the station, leaving the crew vulnerable for approximately ten days without functional exit capability, a critical safety violation contradicting International Space Station protocols requiring permanent emergency evacuation capability.
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Transcript

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0:00.8	There's no better feeling than waking up surrounded by comfort.
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0:24.9	The home of your kind of cozy, Denelm.
0:27.9	The Home of Homes.
0:35.3	This is CBSI on the world.
0:38.6	I'm John Bachelor.
0:41.4	Hotel Mars, episode end.
0:46.5	David Livingston is here, my colleague and co-host and co-pilot, and we're headed to lower Earth orbit to ask what happened and why, and what did the Chinese space program do
0:52.3	about it when its taikonauts were stranded on Changyang-Wan, their mini space station, because of events.
1:01.3	In low Earth orbit, events can be catastrophic.
1:04.6	We welcome our taekinot watcher, Rick Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
1:10.9	Rick, when last we spoke, the Chinese were all about boosters, building nine and ten,
1:16.7	and looking to the moon by the end of this decade.
1:19.7	And then an incident with one of their spacecraft looking to rendezvous with Jiangyang
1:26.5	Juan, their small space station.
1:28.2	What happened?
1:28.7	What do we know about what happened?
1:30.4	What damage happened?
1:31.5	And what immediately afterwards was a problem?
1:34.0	Good evening, too.
	...

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