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Sugar Astronaut stranded in the country’s Tiangong space Station after doubt space junk Their capsule which was shot will return to Earth on Friday. replacement team’s spacecraft, China’s human spaceflight agency said.
The three astronauts who were part of the Shenzhou-20 mission – Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong – were initially expected to return to Earth. 5 NovemberBut a doubtful effect from a small piece space debris Upon return the spacecraft canceled its scheduled departure.
Shenzhou Mission A team of three Chinese astronauts cycle to and from the Tiangong Space Station for a six-month stay, during which they perform a number of tasks, including repairing damage to the orbiting outpost.
Two teams are currently at the orbital outpost, with a replacement crew making up the Shenzhou-21 mission already arriving at the Tiangong space station last month.
Now, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has announced that the three stranded astronauts will board the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft and land at the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
CMSA also revealed for the first time the nature of the damage caused to the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, saying “small cracks” were found in a small window of the return capsule.
“While the capsule does not meet safety requirements for crew return, Shenzhou-20 will remain in orbit and conduct relevant experiments,” the agency said in a statement.
The space agency said all three astronauts are in good health so far, and preparations are underway for their return to the landing site.
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The astronauts were launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China in April and have been aboard the space station since then.
Their return was delayed when it was found that their return capsule had collided with suspected space debris.
“It is suspected that the Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has collided with a small piece of orbital debris, and an assessment of the impact and associated risks is currently underway,” CMSA said.
It is unclear whether the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was hit by debris mid-flight or while it was docked at Tiangong.
CMSA said on Tuesday that emergency response plans were activated after the crew return was postponed.
The agency appears to be following existing protocols, which suggest that the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft will be used to return the stranded crew to Earth.
The latest update from the space agency also reveals that a Shenzhou-22 spacecraft is being prepared for launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert for the return mission.
The agency said it will be launched at an appropriate time in the future.
The Shenzhou-21 astronauts, who arrived on November 1, are expected to return to Earth aboard their spacecraft next year.
This incident points to the danger posed by space junk to astronauts.
It follows the debris of a broken Russian satellite last year, which forced astronauts on the International Space Station to shelter in place for about an hour.
Initial estimates showed that the destroyed Russian satellite immediately created “more than 100 pieces of trackable debris”.
The narrow region of space filled with satellites may contain more than 200,000 space junk objects between 1–10 centimeters and thousands of debris larger than 10 centimeters.