A Chinese space crew is stranded at the Tiangong space station after their return capsule was reportedly struck by tiny pieces of space debris, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Wednesday.
According to Fox News, the three-member Shenzhou-20 team had been scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday, but their mission has been temporarily extended while engineers conduct impact analysis and risk assessments on the damaged spacecraft, CMSA said.
Their return date has been postponed indefinitely, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which provided no additional details.
The return capsule is believed to have been hit by fragments of space junk, an increasing hazard in low Earth orbit. CMSA has not specified the extent of the damage or what repairs may be required. If the capsule cannot be repaired, protocol dictates the Shenzhou-20 crew will use the Shenzhou-21 team’s capsule to return to Earth.
The Shenzhou-20 astronauts – mission commander Chen Dong, fighter pilot Chen Zhongrui, and engineer Wang Jie – arrived at Tiangong in April for a six-month rotation. Their replacements, the Shenzhou-21 crew, successfully docked with the station on Saturday and consist of astronauts Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei, and Zhang Lu.
The Shenzhou program routinely sends crews of three astronauts to and from Tiangong for six-month missions, conducting scientific experiments and repairing damage caused by debris.
Since launching its crewed spaceflight program in 2003, China has steadily expanded its capabilities, building its own space station and aiming to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
