Chinese astronauts’ return to Earth delayed over fears spaceship damaged by debris
Three Chinese astronauts have been forced to extend their stay in space by six months over fears their return spacecraft may have been hit by debris, China’s space agency said.
Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie were scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday –– they even handed over the keys to the Chinese space station to a new crew –– but their return trip was postponed due to a suspected impact on their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, the China National Space Administration announced Wednesday.
“Impact analysis and risk assessment are ongoing,” the space agency said, without specifying details of the damage or how long it would take to check the ship.
No alternative date has been given for the return of the trio of taikonauts – Chinese astronauts – who took off from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in April.
Astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie meet the press before their space mission Shenzhou-20, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, China, April 23, 2025. – China Daily/Reuters
The news came just days after China, which has rapidly increased its space ambitions in recent years, celebrated the successful launch of Shenzhou-21.
The new spacecraft model successfully transported the next batch of astronauts to China’s Tiangong space station – or “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese. Among the new cohort was Wu Fei, 32, feverishly touted by local media as the youngest Chinese astronaut to ever reach space.
Upon arrival, state-owned CCTV broadcast a handover ceremony in which the crews of the two ships huddled in a narrow compartment to sign documents on a floating board.
“We are about to return to Earth, and now I hand you the hatch key which symbolizes the right to maintain operations on this Chinese space station,” Chen Dong said. But now he and his teammates are stuck in space while their ship is evaluated.
A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. – Chinese Daily/Reuters
China’s space agency said the postponement was to ensure the safety and health of astronauts.
The biannual launches of China’s Shenzhou program are a source of pride as the country’s space program makes giant strides. Recent advances have seen China break the US record for longest spacewalk, with a nine-hour feat, and it is set to open the doors to its space station to foreigners for the first time, with plans to welcome an astronaut from Pakistan to Tiangong next year.
The developments have raised alarms in Washington, which is racing to send an astronaut to the Moon again, as the Trump administration has barred Chinese citizens with U.S. visas from participating in NASA programs.
The US space agency has become very familiar with the difficulties of recovering astronauts stuck in space over the past year.
What was supposed to be a short stay in space for American astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore extended into a mission lasting more than nine months, after a malfunction in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that was supposed to take them home.
The two men, who left Earth in June last year, finally returned home in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in March.
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