The 3 taikonauts of China's Shenzhou 20 mission – Wang Jie (left), Chen Zhongrui (center) and Chen Dong – greet the public on April 24 before liftoff to the Tiangong space station, PHOTO: Han Qiyang / Xinhua News / Profimedia Images
Three taikonauts, the name China uses for its astronauts, were due to leave the Tiangong space station on Wednesday, re-enter the atmosphere and land in the isolated desert of Inner Mongolia. Instead, officials ordered the crew to remain aboard the station while engineers investigate a possible problem with their lander due to impact with space debris, Ars Technica reports.
The China Manned Space Agency, run by the country's military, announced the change late Tuesday in a brief statement posted on the social media platform Weibo, China's analogue to Elon Musk's “X” platform.
“It is suspected that the manned spacecraft Shenzhou 20 was hit by small space debris,” the statement said. “The impact analyzes and risk assessment are ongoing. In order to ensure the safety and health of the astronauts and the full success of the mission, it has been decided that the return mission of Shenzhou 20, originally scheduled for November 5, will be postponed,” China's space agency said.
Taikonauts have been aboard the Chinese space station since April
Astronauts of the Shenzhou 20 mission arrived at the Tiangong station in April. Their replacements, aboard the Shenzhou 21 mission, docked at Tiangong on Friday, temporarily raising the station's manpower to six. After several days of joint operations, the six astronauts held a handover ceremony Tuesday morning, officially handing over control of the space outpost to the new team.
Less than 24 hours later, Chinese officials decided to cancel Shenzhou 20's departure from Tiangong. The statement from China's Manned Space Agency did not say which part of the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft might have been damaged, what evidence led engineers to suspect space debris as the cause, or how long the spacecraft's return departure might be delayed.
The ship has three sections: a landing pod located between the crew's living space and a propulsion and power module. The modules separate before re-entry into the atmosphere, and the return capsule descends assisted by parachutes, while the other parts disintegrate during re-entry.
China's Shenzou 20 mission is led by a veteran taikonaut
The Shenzhou 20 crew is led by Commander Chen Dong, a veteran astronaut and former Chinese military fighter pilot on his third space mission. Two spaceflight rookies, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, are also waiting to return home after six months in orbit.
Ars Technica notes that it is rare for China to disclose a problem during an ongoing space mission.
Operations at the Tiangong space station have gone without significant problems since the first crewed missions began in 2021, but Chinese officials were aware of the risks posed by space debris. The Shenzhou 20 astronauts performed four spacewalks during their mission. All of these activities focused on strengthening external shields to defend the station from the impact of in-orbit debris, according to official Chinese accounts of these exits.
The station suffered a partial power loss in 2023 after a piece of space debris hit one of its solar panels, prompting repairs to be made on several spacewalks last year. A series of extravehicular activities followed to install what Chinese state media called “space debris protection devices” on the station's exterior.
