A Collision with Area Particles Leaves 3 Chinese language Astronauts Stranded in Orbit

Wrapping up 204 days in orbit, three Chinese language astronauts flew again to Earth aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft Friday, leaving three crewmates behind on the Tiangong area station with a busted lifeboat.

Commander Chen Dong, concluding his third journey to area, and rookie crewmates Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie touched down inside their spacecraft on the Dongfeng touchdown zone at 1:29 am EST (06:29 UTC) Friday. The parachute-assisted touchdown occurred within the mid-afternoon on the return zone, situated within the distant Gobi Desert of northwestern China.

Chinese language area officers upended operations on the nation’s Tiangong area lab final week after astronauts discovered injury to one in all two Shenzhou return capsules docked on the station. The China Manned Area Company, run by the nation’s navy, introduced modifications to the area station’s flight plan November 4, the day earlier than three crew members had been imagined to depart and fly house.

Chen and his crewmates had been making ready to board the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft for the trip again to Earth a number of days after the arrival of three alternative crew members on the newly launched Shenzhou 21 capsule. Shenzhou 20 is identical spacecraft that launched Chen’s crew in April.

However a bit of greater than every week in the past, Chinese language officers mentioned the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft was “suspected of being impacted by small area particles” and confirmed the return journey could be postponed. Officers offered no further particulars.

China’s human spaceflight company launched a cryptic assertion earlier this week saying preparations had been underway for the crew’s undocking and touchdown, however the circumstances of the return remained opaque till hours earlier than the astronauts’ homecoming. Lastly, officers confirmed the small print of the return to Earth late Thursday.

“Primarily based on preliminary evaluation of pictures, design evaluation, simulation evaluation, and wind tunnel exams, a complete evaluation decided that the Shenzhou 20 manned spacecraft’s return capsule window glass had developed a minor crack, probably brought on by an exterior influence from area particles,” the China Manned Area Company wrote on Weibo, the Chinese language social media platform. “This doesn’t meet the discharge situations for a protected manned return.”

Swapping Spacecraft in Low-Earth Orbit

With their unique spacecraft deemed unsafe, Chen and his crewmates as a substitute rode again to Earth on the newer Shenzhou 21 craft that launched and arrived on the Tiangong station October 31. The three astronauts who launched on Shenzhou 21—Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang—stay aboard the almost 100-metric ton area station with solely the broken Shenzhou 20 craft obtainable to convey them house.

China’s line of Shenzhou spaceships not solely present transportation to and from low-Earth orbit, additionally they function lifeboats to evacuate astronauts from the Chinese language area station within the occasion of an in-flight emergency, equivalent to main failures or a medical disaster. They serve the identical function as Russian Soyuz and SpaceX Crew Dragon autos flying to and from the Worldwide Area Station.

One other Shenzhou spacecraft, Shenzhou 22, “will likely be launched at a later date,” the China Manned Area Company mentioned in a press release. Shenzhou 20 will stay in orbit to “proceed related experiments.” The Tiangong lab is designed to assist crews of six for under brief durations, with longer stays of three astronauts.