{"id":273489,"date":"2025-11-20T12:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273489\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:05:09","slug":"chinese-astronauts-stranded-in-space-with-no-return-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273489\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Astronauts Stranded in Space With No Return Vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, news emerged that the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft docked to China\u2019s Tiangong space station had sustained serious damage<\/a>, likely due to space debris.<\/p>\n

The capsule was meant to allow a crew of three astronauts to return to Earth on November 5, but thanks to \u201ctiny cracks\u201d in the \u201creturn capsule\u2019s viewport window,\u201d the Shenzhou-20 crew had to return home on the Shenzhou-21 shuttle that delivered their replacements to the station instead, safely landing<\/a> in China\u2019s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region last week.<\/p>\n

That leaves the new batch of astronauts in a pickle, since what was going to be their ride home \u2014 and escape craft, in the case that anything went wrong \u2014 instead immediately departed for Earth. As Newsweek points out<\/a>, that means the Shenzhou-21 crew is technically currently stranded on board the Tiangong without a usable spacecraft at their disposal. The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft is out of commission as it \u201cdoes not meet the requirements for the astronauts\u2019 safe return,\u201d per a statement by the China Manned Space Agency<\/a> (CMSA).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hairy situation, highlighting the considerable danger the space junk littering our planet\u2019s orbit poses. Docked spacecraft aren\u2019t just designed for scheduled returns; they also provide astronauts with a means of evacuating the station in the event of an emergency. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also reminiscent of the time NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams were stranded on board the International Space Station for eight months longer than anticipated<\/a> last year. (Instead of their ride sustaining damage due to space debris, their return was delayed by technical issues plaguing Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

When the currently orbiting crew will return or whether the Shenzhou-20 is safe enough for a shelter-in-place maneuver<\/a> remains unclear. The CMSA stated that the next mission, Shenzhou-22, \u201cwill be launched at an appropriate time in the future,\u201d\u00a0per\u00a0state-run news outlet Global Times<\/a> \u2014 though if that time is when it sends another crew of astronauts to the space station, getting them home will again leave the station without an escape craft.<\/p>\n

An expert told the publication that the Shenzhou-21\u2019s departure gives the Shenzhou-22 \u201ctime to complete its preparations, ensuring more secure and efficient operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the CMSA, the damaged Shenzhou-20 capsule will stay docked to the Tiangong for now to \u201ccontinue conducting relevant experiments.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on the situation: Chinese Astronauts Alarmed After Finding Cracks In Their Spacecraft\u2019s Window<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, news emerged that the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft docked to China\u2019s Tiangong space station had sustained serious damage,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-273489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}