Three Chinese astronauts landed on Earth on Friday, according to state media, more than a week after they were scheduled to land, at the end of a long stay in space after suspected debris left their spaceship with a cracked window.
After opening the capsule’s hatch, medical teams found that the astronauts were in good physical condition, Chinese state media CCTV reported.
The Shenzhou-20 space flight crew was scheduled to finish their mission at the Chinese Tiangong Space Station last Wednesday. They even handed over the keys to the space station to a new crew who had just arrived on their own six-month mission.
But instead, their flight home was delayed “due to a suspected collision of small space debris” with their ship, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
After a nine-day wait, they finally returned home aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft that transported the incoming crew, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 crew members sign work handover documents aboard the Tiangong Space Station on November 4, 2025. – CCTV
The damaged ship Shenzhou-20 suffered a “minor crack” in the window of its return capsule, likely caused by debris impact, making it unsafe for crew return, according to the CMSA. The ship will remain in orbit to conduct experiments instead, the agency said.
During the extra week they spent in space, the crew continued to work and live 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 operational space stations, along with the International Space Station. Since its completion in 2022, China’s Shenzhou program’s biannual launches have been a source of national pride.
Recent developments have seen China break the American record for the longest distance in space, by a distance A nine-hour sortieis about to open the doors of Tiangong to foreigners for the first time, with plans to welcome an astronaut from Pakistan next year.
The new crew aboard Shenzhou 21 – who now have no spacecraft to return to – includes the youngest Chinese astronaut ever sent into space, 32-year-old Wu Fei.
A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft and its crew lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Gansu province on April 24, 2025. – China Daily/Reuters
The Shenzhou-22, scheduled to launch sometime next year, will include an astronaut who will stay for more than a year for a “long-term residence experiment,” Xinhua News Agency reported.
China’s rapid development in space exploration has raised alarm bells in Washington, which is racing against time to send an astronaut to the moon again. Established by the Trump administration Ban on Chinese citizens With US visas participate in NASA programs.
The US space agency is aware of the difficulties of retrieving astronauts stranded in space. What was supposed to be a short stay on the International Space Station extended into a more than nine-month mission for two American astronauts earlier this year after their spacecraft malfunctioned. They are the ultimate He came home In March.
The two countries are also competing in emerging enterprise-building efforts, with the US-led Artemis Agreements on lunar exploration matching the International Lunar Research Station led by China and Russia.
CNN’s Chris Lau and Hassan Tayer contributed reporting.
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