A global plea is growing for Elon Musk to rescue three Chinese astronauts stranded in space after their return capsule was struck by an 'unknown object'.
Senior Colonel Chen Dong and crew members Colonel Chen Zhongrui and Colonel Wang Jie launched to China's Tiangong space station in April and were set to return home on November 5.
But officials revealed this week that their spacecraft may have sustained damage while docked in orbit for the past six months.
Chinese officials are unsure what struck the vessel, but the damage is believed to have been caused by space debris, which is basically junk floating around the Earth from older space missions and rocket launches.
The Shenzhou-20 team's incident has reignited memories of NASA's two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were marooned aboard the International Space Station (ISS) last year after a capsule malfunction.
Musk's SpaceX was credited with carrying out the rescue, and many online now believe the billionaire's rocket company may once again be humanity's best hope.
'Send Elon,' one user posted on X. Another wrote, 'When you're stuck in space, who you gonna call? Elon Musk and SpaceX.'
A well-known aerospace expert and science blogger, Yu Jun, who goes by Steed's Scarf online, explained that if officials conclude the damaged spacecraft is too risky to bring back, they would likely move to a 'plan B,' which could involve launching a backup return vehicle from Earth.
'Shenzhou-22 and the Long March 2F [launcher] were already on standby. This is our rolling backup mechanism,' Jun told his more than five million followers on Weibo.
'They are in "emergency duty" mode and ready to bring our astronauts home safely if needed.'
The mission marks China’s 15th crewed spaceflight and the ninth team to live and work aboard Tiangong, the world’s only space station currently operated solely by one nation.
It features a modular design, with sections connected while orbiting between 210 and 280 miles above Earth’s surface. NASA's ISS sits 250 miles above the surface.
China is banned from the ISS because of a 2011 US law that prohibits NASA from bilateral cooperation with China due to national security concerns and other issues, which led the nation to construct, launch and operate its own station.
The nation launched Tiangong in 2021, which usually houses three astronauts at a time.
However, there are currently six due to the team's replacements arriving before damage to the returning capsule was known.
While many social media users are pleading for Musk to help the astronauts, others pointed out that China's station is not compatible with SpaceX's capsules.
The incident comes more than one year after NASA's astronauts suffered a similar fate when Boeing's Starliner capsule malfunctioned while traveling to the ISS last June.
The pair became stranded in space after propulsion issues left their own spacecraft unfit for their return.
They were reassigned to the Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS in September with a reduced crew of two to bring them home.
Williams and Wilmore finally returned safely off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on March 19, after a 287-day mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft.
The return journey took approximately 17 hours, and the capsule was met by recovery vessels.
