The US "Starliner" spacecraft encountered an embarrassing scene, which was originally "sick to work," but now it can only rely on the International Space Station. The "Starliner" was launched on June 5 and is scheduled to return to Earth on June 14, but the announcement issued by NASA shows that the "Starliner" does not have the conditions to return to Earth at present, because engineers and technicians still have to test the engine of the spacecraft, and it is obvious that the "Starliner" will return to Earth in July at the earliest. The problem of helium leakage was already discovered when the new US spacecraft was launched, and now the United States is knocking out its front teeth and swallowing it in its stomach, because there are no concrete measures to deal with it at present.
Judging from the information released by the United States, the leakage problem of the "starliner" has not been resolved, and it will inevitably affect the pressure of the engine fuel, and helium is used to provide pressure gas for the engine fuel, although the United States claims that it has no impact on the work of the engine, but in fact the spacecraft has not returned has already shown the seriousness of the problem. The "Starliner" cannot return from space, and it cannot easily relaunch a spacecraft to the space station to pick up the two astronauts, because there is a long cycle for the manufacture of manned spacecraft, in addition to the corresponding tests, and at the same time, it also needs the cooperation of the launch vehicle, so the United States cannot launch the same spacecraft in the short term.
Although the United States still has the rest of the manned spacecraft platforms, since the launch cycle of manned spacecraft is six months, there is no surplus spacecraft that can be used for emergency launches, including the applicable launch vehicle must also have a special structure to match, so the preparation work is not calculated in days. The new US spacecraft is still out of order and does not dare to return to Earth, can China launch the Shenzhou spacecraft to provide rescue? At present, the spacecraft interface used by the International Space Station is the "International Docking System Standard", that is, the IDSS system, which has obvious requirements for the size and specifications of the interface, so if China's Shenzhou spacecraft wants to dock with the International Space Station, the interface needs to meet the IDSS system standard.
Judging from the public photos, China's Shenzhou spacecraft and the interface of China's space station are very similar in structure to the "international system standard", and theoretically have a docking basis, but there is no public evidence that China's Shenzhou spacecraft can dock with the International Space Station. In fact, due to the adoption of different development models, China's space station and the international space station are very different, China's space technology is based on its own technology, so the operating system will not be compatible with the international space station, in the same interface of hardware structure, there will be difficult compatibility problems because of the difference in the overall system.
However, although China's Shenzhou spacecraft may not be able to dock with the ISS, there is no problem with Russia's Soyuz spacecraft docking with the ISS, because Russia is a participating country in the ISS, and Russia's Soyuz will be launched regularly to meet the needs of the ISS personnel replacement. Obviously, if the ISS has enough resources, the survival of the two astronauts will not be a problem, and if there is an urgent need for supplies, whether it is the United States or Russia, it is possible to launch a cargo spacecraft to the ISS, which is relatively much simpler than the preparation of a manned spacecraft.