{"id":359879,"date":"2025-11-06T13:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T13:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/359879\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T13:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T13:37:12","slug":"chinese-astronauts-stranded-at-tiangong-space-station-after-debris-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/359879\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese astronauts stranded at Tiangong space station after debris strike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A Chinese space crew is stranded at the country\u2019s Tiangong space station<\/a> after tiny pieces of space debris were believed to have struck their return capsule, China\u2019s spaceflight agency said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The three-member Shenzhou-20 team had been scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday, but their mission has been temporarily extended as engineers conduct impact analysis and risk assessments on the damaged spacecraft, the China Manned Space Agency<\/a> (CMSA) said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Their return date has been postponed indefinitely, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which offered no further details.<\/p>\n

The crew’s return capsule is believed to have been hit by tiny fragments of space junk \u2013 an increasing hazard in low Earth orbit. CMSA has not specified the extent of the damage or what repairs, if any, will be required. If the spacecraft cannot be repaired, protocol states the Shenzhou-20 crew will use the Shenzhou-21 team\u2019s capsule to return to Earth.<\/p>\n

NASA AT A CROSSROADS: TRUMP\u2019S PLAN TO REFOCUS, EXPLORE AND BEAT CHINA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Astronauts <\/p>\n

Astronauts for China’s Shenzhou-20 space mission, from left, Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui, and Chen Dong, wave during a departure ceremony before boarding a bus to take them to the Shenzhou-20 spaceship at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwest China on April 24, 2025. (Pedro Pardo\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Shenzhou program<\/a> regularly sends crews of three Chinese astronauts to and from the Tiangong space station for 6-month missions, where they carry out tasks ranging from scientific experiments to repairing debris damage.<\/p>\n

The Shenzhou-20 astronauts\u2014mission commander Chen Dong, fighter pilot Chen Zhongrui, and engineer Wang Jie\u2014arrived at Tiangong in April for a 6-month rotation. They were nearing the end of their mission when the issue occurred.<\/p>\n

NASA ASTRONAUTS BUTCH WILMORE, SUNI WILLIAMS GIVE FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE RETURN TO EARTH IN FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Their replacements, part of the Shenzhou-21 mission, successfully docked with the station on Saturday. That crew consists of astronauts Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei and Zhang Lu.<\/p>\n

\"Chinese <\/p>\n

Chinese astronauts for the Shenzhou-21 mission, from left, Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei and Zhang Lu wave as they attend a see-off ceremony for their manned space mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo\/Andy Wong)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Since launching its crewed spaceflight program in 2003, China has steadily expanded its capabilities\u2014building its own space station and setting its sights on landing astronauts on the moon<\/a> by 2030.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Chinese space crew is stranded at the country\u2019s Tiangong…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":359880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[3774,74,159,783,14608,67,132,68,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-359879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-spaceflight","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115503028386803389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}