I’m thinking even if they could build a catapult with the materials they have, and even if they had parachutes in space with them right now, and even if they could get the astronauts to volunteer to return this way, the biggest chore would be finding a way to put a lot of tension on the catapult arm in space to fling them towards home with any type of velocity. There’s also the thought of Newton’s equal and opposite reaction thingy that might send the space station spinning in circles if the catapult was attached to it when it fired. Maybe that’s why they didn’t have any catapult weapons in Star Trek or Star Wars movies!
I’m thinking even if they could build a catapult with the materials they have, and even if they had parachutes in space with them right now, and even if they could get the astronauts to volunteer to return this way, the biggest chore would be finding a way to put a lot of tension on the catapult arm in space to fling them towards home with any type of velocity. There’s also the thought of Newton’s equal and opposite reaction thingy that might send the space station spinning in circles if the catapult was attached to it when it fired. Maybe that’s why they didn’t have any catapult weapons in Star Trek or Star Wars movies!