Space debris may have hit a Chinese spacecraft, delaying return of Shenzhou 20 astronauts

Three Chinese astronauts will live in space a little longer, after their return vehicle was hit by a suspected space debris impact.

The astronauts are part of the Shenzhou 20 mission, which launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 24 and arrived at Tiangong after a six-hour orbital chase.

The Shenzhou 20 trio — mission commander Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — were scheduled to depart Tiangong today (Nov. 5), but a suspected impact from a small piece of debris on their spacecraft has called off that departure, according to an online post from China’s Manned Spaceflight Agency (CMSA).

Shenzhou 20’s replacements, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 21 mission, launched to Tiangong on Oct. 31 to begin their own six-month rotation. The two crews will now both remain aboard Tiangong while an impact analysis is completed on the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft.

The two crews held a change-of-command ceremony in the days leading up to Shenzhou 20’s scheduled departure, during which Dong handed over the keys to Tiangong’s new commander, Shenzhou 21 astronaut Zhang Lu.

The Shenzhou 20 astronauts have been busy during their six-month rotation aboard Tiangong. For example, they completed four separate spacewalks to install debris shields and other external equipment. But they also carved out some time for fun, celebrating this season’s Mid-Autumn Festival, marking the occasion in the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a special meal.

Shenzhou 20 is Dong’s third trip to space, and the first for Zhongrui and Jie. It’s the ninth crewed mission launched by China to Tiangong, the construction of which began in April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe core module.

Once a new departure date is determined, Shenzhou 20 will touch down under a blanket of parachutes at the Dongfeng landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.