BEIJING: Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after their original landing was postponed due to space debris striking their spacecraft last week. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) revealed that “tiny cracks” had been discovered in a window of the Shenzhou-20 return capsule, which did not meet safety standards for crewed re-entry. Read […]
Space Debris
Chinese astronauts escape space debris scare, land safely
Three Chinese astronauts safely returned to Earth on Friday after their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was damaged by space debris. The vessel developed tiny cracks in its return capsule, delaying the crew’s homecoming by nine days. They landed at the Dongfeng site in Inner Mongolia, completing a six-month mission aboard China’s Tiangong space station. The China Manned […]