So if you ride a ferry on a regular basis (which I'm sure at least a handful of HN folks do) - if that ferry breaks down before the return trip, when you catch the next ferry is that a "rescue mission", or are you just catching the next ferry? Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice.

Calling this a rescue is, to OPs point, just dramatizing the situation for clicks. In pretty much any other circumstance, it wouldn't even make the news.

I agree that calling it a rescue is a bit much, but this is hardly a case of missing a bus or ferry and catching the next one.

If you missed a ferry, expecting to be away from your family for a week, only to find you are stuck on a desolate island for 8+ months you would probably feel like you were being rescued.

My understanding is the astronauts don’t mind staying longer because they enjoy it and for some (all?) it may be their last mission in space, in part due to the decommissioning.

And most people like visiting islands. That doesn't change the fact that this was supposed to be 8 days not 8 months.

We don't really know. Some of them may have missed out on something personally important back on Earth (graduation, wedding, funeral, birth) etc.

You are leaving out the tiny detail that compared to a ferry there are very limited opportunities to catch the next ferry. If a ferry breaks down you aren’t stuck in the island for 8 months. You could charter a boat, get a helicopter, go for a swim.

Significant unexpected planning and spending have to go into getting them a different ride home.

It’s closer to your car breaking down in a remote area. Would a tow truck be a rescue? I would think so.

It's similar to your car breaking down in a remote area only if you've trained extensively for that area (almost your entire life), have food and supplies for the entire duration, have friends and entertainment, and can do your job as well as novel career options the entire time as well.

It's overly dramatic to call it a rescue mission. It just is. It's not great that they're up there longer than planned, but they're not going to explode or fly off into space.

It’s a downsized crew, right? As in they purposely are sending up fewer people so that there is room to bring back everyone?

I respectfully partially disagree. Sure, the term "rescue" is a bit over the top and evokes "Apollo 13" vibes. OTOH, Boeing has "$14.8bn in Pentagon contracts in 2022" [1]. Boeing has plane crash issues for years now across more than 1 model. And its space program just had an embarrassing failure. Given their failures, the amount of revenue they get from the US federal gov, and their level of influence over various aspects of defense funding/spending, I do not think this story should be dismissed as an overly sensational, run-of-the-mill story that does not make the news.

IMO, US citizens/taxpayers would be very justified to be pissed about the failures of a company that their tax dollars heavily fund (from the same article I referenced above, its like 37% of their revenue). The series of very public failures that affect people directly (planes) and affect their tax dollars (recent series of failures of their space program) certainly warrants outrage and coverage. that's my 2 cents

[1]: https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/boeing-pleads-g...

or

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/01/02/ho...

If you're on an island, the ferry breaks down and the next one is in three months, yeah it's a rescue mission.

I don't know why people want to quibble about usage that seems clear.

I'd just call it the next ferry. If there was an extra boat sent before the next ferry was due, that could be a rescue mission (or just a replacement boat).

> just call it the next ferry

The next ferry doesn’t have room. It has to change its plans to accommodate you.

When my friend's car broke down on the mountain 15 minutes from both of our homes and I brought them a jacket and McDonalds while they wait for a tow, that was a rescue.

Like it's not much, but come on.

A more apt analogy would be:

You are the captain and pilot of the ferry. And it is such a complicated ferry that you are extensively trained on how to navigate it. It is, in fact, so complicated and different that there are other ferries around but you can only sail yours. You can't just hop on another one and do the same trip.

You took this ferry to an island in the middle of nowhere and after you got there you realized the ferry was broken. Nobody knows how bad... it might snap in half in the middle of the return trip.

You have plenty of provisions for the next few months and you are not alone on the island. Other ferries still come and go but you can't just hop on those, you don't know how to operate them.

They sent one of those other ferries just for you with a smaller crew to accommodate you. Without it you are not coming back.

Is it a rescue?

> Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice.

I mean I've certainly been stuck at an airport because I had a ticket for a flight that ended up getting canceled, which necessitated me remaining at the airport for an extended period of time. I had an expectation of getting a new ticket for a new flight, but none of that changed the fact that I was indeed stuck.

If you're in the ocean and your ship breaks down and another ship adjusts its plans to come pick you up, is that a rescue?

If there were no changes needed to the subsequent flight to accommodate two additional riders, sure, not a rescue. But there are, and that's important from multiple perspectives (not least of which is cost)

"Rescue" conveys a much more negative situation than "unplanned itinerary change where the astronauts are safe and which they are happy about because they get to spend more time in space".

Bone deterioration equating to decades in a matter of months, heart health impact, time away from family... it's negative.

I bet if you asked each of them if they could extend such a unique experience - one they're unlikely to experience again - would they say yes? IN. A. FCKING. HEARTBEAT.

The postive's overwhelm the negatives by an infinite amount.

You might be right, only they can say. I just don't take their statements in a press conference at face value, but yeah there is that silver lining.