The three astronauts of China’s Shenzhou 20 mission are coming house a bit late — and in a distinct spacecraft than the one they rode up in.
The Shenzhou 20 trio had been supposed to depart China’s Tiangong area station on Nov. 5. However the departure was postponed after their Shenzhou 20 spacecraft absorbed an affect, apparently from a small piece of area particles.
“The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft doesn’t meet the necessities for the astronauts’ secure return and can stay in orbit to proceed related experiments,” the state-run Xinhua information outlet reported on Thursday, citing info from the China Manned House Company (CMSA).
“Tiny cracks have been discovered within the return capsule’s viewport window, that are likely attributable to exterior affect from area particles, based on the CMSA,” Xinhua added.
Supplied all goes based on plan, the three Shenzhou 20 taikonauts — commander Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — will make a parachute-aided landing within the Dongfeng touchdown website in north China’s Internal Mongolia Autonomous Area early on Friday morning (Nov. 14).
The Shenzhou 20 astronauts launched to Tiangong on April 24. Their mission is the third spaceflight for Dong and the primary for each Zhongrui and Jie. The trio carried out quite a lot of scientific experiments and outreach actions throughout their time on the station. In addition they accomplished 4 spacewalks, putting in (appropriately sufficient) particles shields and different gear on Tiangong’s exterior.
The three-astronaut Shenzhou 21 mission launched to Tiangong on Oct. 31 to alleviate their predecessors and start their very own six-month stint aboard the orbiting outpost. However the newcomers’ car ended up having an unexpectedly transient area keep, because of the particles strike on Shenzhou 20.
When the time comes, the Shenzhou 21 astronauts will apparently journey house on the Shenzhou 22 car, which can launch (presumably uncrewed) “at an applicable time sooner or later,” based on one other Xinhua report.
Shenzhou 20 was the ninth crewed mission to Tiangong, a three-module area station that was totally assembled by October 2022. Tiangong is about 20% as large because the Worldwide House Station, however it could get greater; Chinese language area officers have talked about the potential for including extra modules to the outpost.
