Three Chinese astronauts were scheduled to leave the Tiangong space station, reenter the atmosphere and land in the remote desert of Inner Mongolia on Wednesday. Instead, officials ordered the crew to remain on station while engineers investigated a potential problem with their landing craft.
The country's military-run China Manned Space Agency announced the change late Tuesday in a brief statement. posted on WeiboChinese social network.
“The manned spacecraft Shenzhou 20 is suspected of colliding with small space debris,” the statement said. “The impact analysis and risk assessment are ongoing. To ensure the safety and health of the astronauts and the overall success of the mission, it has been decided that the Shenzhou 20 return mission, originally scheduled for November 5, will be postponed.”
What do we know
The 20 Shenzhou astronauts arrived at Tiangong Station in April. Their replacements on the Shenzhou 21 mission docked at Tiangong on Friday, temporarily increasing the station's crew size to six. After days of working together, the six astronauts held a handover ceremony early Tuesday morning to formally hand over command of the outpost to the new crew.
Less than 24 hours later, Chinese officials decided to cancel Shenzhou 20's departure from Tiangong. The China Manned Space Agency statement did not say what part of the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft may have been damaged, what evidence led engineers to suspect space debris was to blame, or how long the Shenzhou 20 mission might be delayed.
This image shows the Shenzhou spacecraft departing from the Tiangong space station in 2023.
Photo: China Manned Space Agency.
The ship consists of three compartments: the landing capsule is located between the crew's living quarters and the power and propulsion module. The modules are separated from each other before reentry, and the returning craft is guided to land by parachute while the other elements burn up during reentry.
