Explainer-What has happened to the damaged spacecraft at China’s space station?
By Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING (Reuters) – A trio of Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after being stranded on China’s space station for more than a week due to debris damage to their spacecraft, leaving China without an immediate way to get the new crew home in case of an emergency.
Here’s what happened and why it matters.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHENZHOU-20 SPACESHIP?
The Shenzhou-20 craft was left at the space station after China’s Human Space Mission Agency decided a window crack was enough to render it unfit to fly.
The Shenzhou-20 crew – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie – returned home aboard the Shenzhou-21, which was scheduled to return to Earth in six months.
Two weeks ago, Shenzhou-21 transported the three astronauts taking over from the Shenzhou-20 crew to the permanently inhabited space station known as Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace.”
WHAT RISKS DO THE SHENZHOU-21 CREW FACE?
Tiangong faces an unprecedented situation: it has no functioning spacecraft to return the Shenzhou-21 crew to Earth in the event of an emergency.
Among the trio currently stuck in Tiangong is Wu Fei, 32, the youngest Chinese astronaut sent to space.
Chinese space authorities and state media have so far remained silent about the vulnerability of Tiangong and its residents. State broadcaster CCTV focused on minute-by-minute descriptions of the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft’s journey to Earth on Friday.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the Shenzhou-20 crew’s return “marked the first successful implementation of an alternative return procedure in the history of the country’s space station program,” and that the trio set a new record for the longest stay in orbit among Chinese astronaut crews.
HOW CAN CHINA HELP THE SHENZHOU-21 CREW?
The CMSA said Friday that the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will be sent at an appropriate time in the future.
The premature deployment of Shenzhou-22, initially planned for next April, could draw on the experience of the Russian Soyuz program. The Shenzhou spacecraft design is based on the Soyuz spacecraft.
In December 2022, a micrometeoroid particle struck the radiator of Soyuz MS-22’s thermal control system while aboard the International Space Station, the science laboratory run by the United States and Russia for 25 years.
Due to the risk of overheating, the Russian space agency decided to send the Soyuz MS-23 to the ISS to bring back the crew of the slightly damaged vessel.
Igor Marinin, a member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, said it was likely that Chinese specialists would have studied “non-standard situations” experienced by Russian crews.
CAN CHINA REMOVE THE DAMAGED SPACESHIP FROM TIANGONG?
China’s Shenzhou missions have been sending trios of astronauts to Tiangong for six-month stays since 2021. This is the first time a Shenzhou craft has been left in space while its crew returns to Earth.
The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft hit by debris must be fixed in orbit before being returned or completely removed. Failure to do so would make future missions impossible, as Tiangong must have a vacant port at all times for newly arrived Shenzhou ships to dock.
Russian space expert Marinin said that if the damage to the Shenzhou-20 was significant, “one possible scenario would be that the ship is undocked from the Tiangong station and de-orbited over the Pacific Ocean.”
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Maxim Shemetov in Beijing; editing by Alison Williams)
