Space junk may have struck a Chinese crew ship in low-Earth orbit

Three Chinese astronauts were scheduled to leave the Tiangong space station on Wednesday, reenter the atmosphere and land in the remote desert of Inner Mongolia. Instead, authorities ordered the crew to remain on station while engineers investigated a potential problem with their landing craft.

China’s Manned Space Mission Agency, led by the country’s military, announced the change Tuesday evening in a brief statement posted on Weibo, China’s social media platform.

“The Shenzhou 20 manned spacecraft is suspected of being hit by small space debris,” the statement said. “An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway. To ensure the safety and health of the astronauts and the full success of the mission, it has been decided that the Shenzhou 20 return mission, initially scheduled for November 5, will be postponed.”

What we know

The Shenzhou 20 astronauts arrived at Tiangong Station in April. Their replacements for the Shenzhou 21 mission docked at Tiangong on Friday, temporarily increasing the size of the station’s crew to six people. After several days of joint operations, the six astronauts held a handover ceremony Tuesday morning to officially transfer command of the outpost to the new crew.

Less than 24 hours later, Chinese authorities decided to cancel the departure of the Shenzhou 20 from Tiangong. The statement from China’s Human Space Mission Agency did not say what part of the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft may have been damaged, what evidence led engineers to suspect space debris was the cause, or how long Shenzhou 20’s departure might be delayed.

The ship has three sections, with a landing capsule positioned between the crew living quarters and a power and propulsion module. The modules separate from each other before reentry, and the return craft heads for a parachute-assisted landing while the other elements burn up during atmospheric reentry.