Shenzhou-20 Chinese ‘taikonauts’ stranded in space after return capsule collides with piece of space junk

A group of Chinese astronauts have been left stranded above the Earth after the ship they were preparing to use for their return journey collided with a piece of space junk.

Plans are being formulated to assist the three ‘taikonauts’, the Chinese version of astronauts, who now find themselves in the precarious position of having to assess the damage to their spacecraft before deciding, with advice from the mission control team, whether to repair or abandon the module.

The return capsule was struck by a piece of space junk only hours before Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong, who are known as the Shenzhou-20 crew, were set to board.

The trio have been living on China’s Tiangong space station since April 24, and were due to return to earth on Wednesday before the incident occurred at around 10.30am (local time), according to reports.

A statement released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said the return flight had been “postponed”.

“The crew’s return capsule is suspected of being impacted by small space debris,” CMSA representatives wrote in the translated statement posted on the Chinese social media site Weibo.

“An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway to ensure the health and safety of all six taikonauts currently on board the space station.”

Live Science is reporting that the spacecraft is still docked to the Tiangong space station, where it has remained since delivering the Shenzhou-20 crew in April and is made up of three detachable sections — a power and propulsion module, crew living quarters, and a parachute-assisted return module, according to Ars Technica.

If any part of the three sections is deemed unsafe, the spacecraft will likely be ejected and returned to Earth without the astronauts.

In this case, CNSA guidelines suggest that the Shenzhou-20 crew will return to Earth on board the Shenzhou-21 return module, which will, in turn, be replaced by another spacecraft that CMSA keeps on standby, according to Reuters.

During the ongoing mission, Shenzhou-20’s commander Chen Dong broke the record for the most cumulative days in space by a Chinese astronaut, having now spent more than 400 days orbiting our planet.

The current record for most nonconsecutive days spent in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who has accumulated 1,111 days in space.

Dong finds himself in the same situation as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who inadvertently broke the record for longest spaceflight by an American (371 days) in September 2023, after his return module was irreparably damaged by a meteoroid impact, while docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

In March, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams also made headlines when they returned to Earth nine months after their initial week-long mission began. The pair’s extended stay onboard the ISS was the result of multiple technical issues with their Boeing Starliner capsule.