Astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie attend a see-off ceremony for the Shenzhou-20 spaceflight mission at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China April 24, 2025. (photo credit: CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS) via TJP.
China’s space agency said that the delay was to ensure the astronauts’ safety and health and has not yet announced alternative dates for Dong, Zhongrui, and Jie’s return.
Report from China says, three Chinese Astronauts will have to delay their return to Earth over concerns that a piece of debris hit their spacecraft, China’s Space Agency stated on Wednesday.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie of the Shenzhou-20 mission were due to return home on Wednesday after six months in space. Their replacements, the Shenzhou-21, arrived at the Tiangong space station last weekend.
“The Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft is suspected to have been struck by a small piece of orbital debris, and assessment of the impact and associated risks is currently underway,” China’s space agency said in a statement.
“To ensure the health and safety of the Astronauts and the successful completion of the mission, it has been decided that the originally planned return of Shenzhou-20 on November 5 will be postponed.”
A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a crewed mission to China’s Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China April 24, 2025. (credit: CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS) via TJP
Chinese astronauts stranded in space
The Agency did not state how severe the damage was or how long it would take to fix the ship.
China’s Space Agency said that the delay was to ensure the Astronauts’ safety and health and has not yet announced alternative dates for Dong, Zhongrui, and Jie’s return.
China also did not say when the hit could have occurred, and gave no indications that anything was amiss during the Tiangong handover ceremony earlier this week.
“We are about to return to Earth, and now I am handing over the hatch key that symbolizes the right to maintain operations on this Chinese space station to you,” Dong said during the ceremony.
Shortly after the ceremony, the two crews celebrated with a BBQ dinner.
Dong, the team’s commander, currently holds China’s record for the longest cumulative space flight at 380 days in orbit.
He also holds the record for the most spacewalks (six) by a Chinese Astronaut. – TJP
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