Wrapping up 204 days in orbit, three Chinese language astronauts flew again to Earth aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft Friday, leaving three crewmates behind on the Tiangong house station with a busted lifeboat.
Commander Chen Dong, concluding his third journey to house, and rookie crewmates Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie touched down inside their spacecraft on the Dongfeng touchdown zone at 1:29 am EST (06:29 UTC) Friday. The parachute-assisted touchdown occurred within the mid-afternoon on the return zone, positioned within the distant Gobi Desert of northwestern China.
Chinese language house officers upended operations on the nation’s Tiangong house lab final week after astronauts discovered injury to considered one of two Shenzhou return capsules docked on the station. The China Manned Area Company, run by the nation’s army, introduced modifications to the house station’s flight plan November 4, the day earlier than three crew members had been imagined to depart and fly dwelling.
Chen and his crewmates had been making ready to board the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft for the trip again to Earth a couple of days after the arrival of three alternative crew members on the newly launched Shenzhou 21 capsule. Shenzhou 20 is similar spacecraft that launched Chen’s crew in April.
However slightly greater than every week in the past, Chinese language officers mentioned the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft was “suspected of being impacted by small space debris” and confirmed the return journey could be postponed. Officers offered no extra particulars.
China’s human spaceflight company launched a cryptic assertion earlier this week saying preparations had been underway for the crew’s undocking and touchdown, however the circumstances of the return remained opaque till hours earlier than the astronauts’ homecoming. Lastly, officers confirmed the small print of the return to Earth late Thursday.
“Based on preliminary analysis of photographs, design review, simulation analysis, and wind tunnel tests, a comprehensive assessment determined that the Shenzhou 20 manned spacecraft’s return capsule window glass had developed a minor crack, most likely caused by an external impact from space debris,” the China Manned Area Company wrote on Weibo, the Chinese language social media platform. “This does not meet the release conditions for a safe manned return.”
Chen Dong, commander of the Shenzhou 20 mission, arrives on the Dongfeng touchdown website within the Gobi Desert, Interior Mongolia, China, after touchdown on November 14, 2025.
{Photograph}: STR/Getty ImagesSwapping Spacecraft in Low-Earth Orbit
With their unique spacecraft deemed unsafe, Chen and his crewmates as a substitute rode again to Earth on the newer Shenzhou 21 craft that launched and arrived on the Tiangong station October 31. The three astronauts who launched on Shenzhou 21—Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang—stay aboard the almost 100-metric ton house station with solely the broken Shenzhou 20 craft out there to deliver them dwelling.
China’s line of Shenzhou spaceships not solely present transportation to and from low-Earth orbit, in addition they function lifeboats to evacuate astronauts from the Chinese language house station within the occasion of an in-flight emergency, reminiscent of main failures or a medical disaster. They serve the identical function as Russian Soyuz and SpaceX Crew Dragon autos flying to and from the Worldwide Area Station.
One other Shenzhou spacecraft, Shenzhou 22, “will be launched at a later date,” the China Manned Area Company mentioned in a press release. Shenzhou 20 will stay in orbit to “continue relevant experiments.” The Tiangong lab is designed to assist crews of six for under quick intervals, with longer stays of three astronauts.
