Chinese astronauts head home after suspected debris strike delays return to Earth

Three Chinese astronauts will return to Earth on Friday, more than a week later than their scheduled landing, capping an extended stay in space after fears their spaceship was hit by debris.

The crew of the Shenzhou-20 spaceflight had been due to finish their mission at China’s Tiangong space station last Wednesday; they’d even handed the keys to the space station to a new crew who had just arrived for their own six-month mission.

But instead, their journey home was postponed “due to a suspected impact from tiny space debris” to their ship, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

After a nine-day wait, they will finally head home on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft that transported the incoming crew, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The spaceship will return to the Dongfeng landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, according to state media. The three astronauts – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie – are in good shape, and preparations for their landing are underway.

The CMSA has not yet given details of what will happen to the damaged ship.

During their extra week in space, the crew continued working and living alongside the newly arrived Shenzhou-21 astronauts, as the space station has enough capacity to support two crews in orbit, according to Xinhua.

The Tiangong station is only one of two operating space stations, alongside the International Space Station. Since it was completed in 2022, the biannual launches of China’s Shenzhou program have been a source of national pride.

Recent advances have seen China break an American-held record for the longest spacewalk, with a nine-hour sortie, and it’s about to open the doors of the Tiangong to foreigners for the first time, with plans to welcome an astronaut from Pakistan next year.

The new crew on board the Shenzhou-21 – who are now without a spaceship to return in – include China’s youngest astronaut to be sent to space, 32-year-old Wu Fei.

The Shenzhou-22, due to launch sometime next year, will include one astronaut who stays more than a year for a “long-duration residency experiment,” Xinhua reported.

China’s rapid development in space exploration has raised alarm bells in Washington, which is racing to put an astronaut on the moon again. The Trump administration placed bans on Chinese citizens with US visas participating in NASA programs.

The US space agency is familiar with the difficulties of retrieving astronauts stuck in space. What was meant to be a short stay on the International Space Station stretched into a more than nine-month mission for two American astronauts earlier this year after their spacecraft malfunctioned. They eventually returned home in March.

Both countries are also competing in nascent institution-building efforts, with the US-led Artemis Accords on lunar exploration matched up against the Chinese- and Russian-led International Lunar Research Station.

CNN’s Chris Lau and Hassan Tayir contributed reporting.

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