History Main / ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' reveals that thousands of citizens of Alderaan were off-world when the Empire blew up the planet, doing things like visiting telatives or attending sporting events on their sister planet Delaya (''Literature/RebelForce''), conducting anti-piracy patrols in the outskirts of the system (''Literature/StarWarsRazorsEdge''), setting up a hunting preserve in the Ryloth system (''ComicBook/StarWarsEmpire''), serving in the Imperial Navy (''Literature/XWingSeries''), touring the galaxy for poetry readings (''Literature/TheIllustratedStarWarsUniverse''), overseeing House of Thul interstellar business interests (''Literature/YoungJediKnights''), or taking an off-world school trip (''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'').

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' reveals that thousands of citizens of Alderaan were off-world when the Empire blew up the planet, doing things like visiting their sister planet Delaya (''Literature/RebelForce''), conducting anti-piracy patrols in the outskirts of the system (''Literature/StarWarsRazorsEdge''), setting up a hunting preserve in the Ryloth system (''ComicBook/StarWarsEmpire''), serving in the Imperial Navy (''Literature/XWingSeries''), touring the galaxy for poetry readings (''Literature/TheIllustratedStarWarsUniverse''), overseeing House of Thul interstellar business interests (''Literature/YoungJediKnights''), or taking an off-world school trip (''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'').

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' reveals that thousands of citizens of Alderaan were off-world when the Empire blew up the planet, doing things like visiting their sister planet Delaya (''Literature/RebelForce''), conducting anti-piracy patrols in the outskirts of the system (''Literature/StarWarsRazorsEdge''), setting up a hunting preserve in the Ryloth system (''ComicBook/StarWarsEmpire''), serving in the Imperial Navy (''Literature/XWingSeries''), touring the galaxy for poetry readings (''Literature/TheIllustratedStarWarsUniverse'') or taking an off-world school trip (''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'').

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' reveals that thousands of citizens of Alderaan were off-world when the Empire blew up the planet, doing things like visiting their sister planet Delaya (''Literature/RebelForce''), conducting anti-piracy patrols in the outskirts of the system (''Literature/StarWarsRazorsEdge''), setting up a hunting preserve in the Ryloth system (''ComicBook/StarWarsEmpire''), serving in the Imperial Navy (''Literature/XWingSeries''), or taking an off-world school trip (''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'').

Something [[ApocalypseHow really bad]] (AlienInvasion, TheVirus, {{Nanomachines}} etc.) happens to everybody on Earth, but the survivors have forgotten that, following the Space Race, there have frequently been some [[http://howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/ humans not on Earth]], and following the advent of the International Space Station, humans have maintained a continuous presence in space. This trope is a common way to have people survive an AfterTheEnd situation. It can sometimes involve experimental or accidental off-Earth time travel, where the astronauts are only gone for a brief moment, and pass right over Armageddon to come back to a ruined Earth. If something is explicitly said to affect "everyone on Earth", this may be a form of ProphecyTwist. Furthermore, in science fiction/superhero stories where Earth has been radically changed, the astronauts in space are usually unaffected and are a vital resource for the heroes to find a way to bring the planet back to normal.

* A lot of the Kryptonians in the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics were in space when their planet exploded and then ended up on Earth. Superman himself is a subversion because he was deliberately sent into space to avoid being killed.
** Originally, Kryptonian criminals used to be placed into orbital spaceships to rehabilitate that would crash land on Earth before the rehabilitation was done, but later comics started putting them in [[PrisonDimension the Phantom Zone]].
** Krypto the Superdog was in an experimental rocket in Krypton's orbit when the planet exploded. Pre-''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' comics {{Hand Wave}}d Superman's spaceship creating a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent space warp]] between Krypton and Earth to explain why so many Kryptonians ended up on Earth.

** The Bottle City of Kandor and its population survived by being shrunk and abducted by Brainiac (becoming an involuntary colony in the collection room of his spaceship) before the planet Krypton’s destruction.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', the Saiyan homeworld, Vegeta, is [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroyed]] by [[EvilOverlord Frieza]], with only the four Saiyans off the planet at the time ([[TheHero Goku]]/Kakarot, Raditz, Nappa and [[TheRival Prince Vegeta]]) surviving. If you count in movies/[=OVAs=], then you have [[Anime/DragonBallZTheTreeOfMight Turles]], [[Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan Broly and his father Paragus]], and Vegeta's runt of a brother [[Anime/DragonBallYoSonGokuAndHisFriendsReturn Tarble]] ([[OlderThanTheyLook who's 39 but looks 17]], even by Saiyan standards) fitting the "missed out on" aspect of the trope, since all were thought to have either been lost, already wiped out, or not important enough to care about until they show up again. While all of the movies [[NonSerialMovie contradict manga/anime canon]] in other ways, the sheer number of Saiyans sent out to other planets makes it entirely plausible that a couple more might have slipped through the cracks of Frieza's purge.
** In ''Dragon Ball Minus'', this is explained as Frieza recalling all the Saiyans back home before destroying their planet. Vegeta and Raditz ignored the order, along with Nappa if he was with them, and Goku was sent away by his parents under Frieza's nose. Frieza did this specifically to kill as many as Saiyans as possible. The cover story that the planet was destroyed by meteors was invented so that any survivors wouldn't suspect Freeza and thus remain loyal to him.

Wondering about RealLife? The people onboard the International Space Station rely on constant resupply from Earth, so their prognosis for staying in space is grim. Air, water, food, all are shipped in. Over a longer term, space is a decidedly hostile environment, between higher radiation levels and the effects of zero-g. Realistically, the astronauts only have months to live. However, the station has lifeboats in the form of Russian Soyuz spacecraft, so they could (in theory) return to Earth; as Soyuz capsules are designed with rough landings in mind thanks to their parachutes, even if a conventional facility is too badly damaged to use, the astronauts certainly have a few options, although it'll be quite a bumpy ride; in real life, [[https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/06/25/soyuz-lands-in-kazakhstan-with-international-crew/ most of the recent Soyuz landings have taken place in fields somewhere in the middle of Central Asia]]. Other space missions could do so, as well. Without MissionControl, though, it is of course more dangerous, as no one can double check your reentry plan or monitor your approach. (They might be stranded in the middle of the ocean, or in a remote landscape without much to gauge where they are, even if they make it down safely.) It is physically possible for spacecraft to return to Earth safely, so astronauts might make it back. Assuming there's an Earth that can still support them, of course.

* The premise of ''Film/ISS''. The crew of the International Space Station witness a nuclear war on Earth, and then the American and Russian crew members receive secret orders to capture the I.S.S. for their respective nations.

** Originally, Kryptonian criminals used to be placed into orbital spaceships to rehabilitate that would crash land on Earth before the rehabilitation was done but later comics started putting them in [[PrisonDimension the Phantom Zone]].
** Krypto the Superdog was in an experimental rocket in Krypton's orbit when the planet exploded. Pre-crisis comics handwaved Superman's spaceship creating a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent space warp]] between Krypton and Earth to explain why so many kryptonians ended up on Earth.