Space Debris Damage Leaves Shenzhou-21 Astronauts With No Ride Home

Three Chinese astronauts are back on Earth after a debris strike sidelined their return flight and forced an unplanned crew rotation. The Shenzhou-20 trio took the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft for their trip back to Earth, leaving the more recently arrived crew with no return vehicle and beginning what may be a long-endured cycle of stranded astronauts.

The three astronauts, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie, launched to the Tiangong station on April 24 and were supposed to return shortly after a replacement crew’s arrival. However, after the spacecraft’s window sustained a minor impact from “tiny space debris,” regulators determined that the Shenzhou-20 was unfit to return them to the ground.

Enter Shenzhou-21: Commander Zhang Lu, Flight Engineer Wu Fei, and Payload Specialist Zhang Hongzhang, who launched on October 31 with plans to spend roughly six months aboard Tiangong. The previous crew was reassigned to the arriving spacecraft and landed on Chinese soil nine days after their scheduled date.

Under normal operations, two Shenzhou capsules remain docked during handovers so one can always serve as a lifeboat… but, clearly, the current situation is far from normal. The China Manned Space Agency confirmed that an uncrewed rescue capsule, Shenzhou-22, will be launched in the future, though no date has been released. The agency’s procedures allow for a rapid-response launch if an emergency develops, but until then, the crew technically has no evacuation option. It’s the first time Tiangong has faced this scenario in its four years of operation.

The Tiangong station is China’s $100-billion answer to the International Space Station’s upcoming retirement. It has been permanently crewed since 2021, with teams rotating every six months. The so-called space debris is a growing cause for concern as defunct satellites, rocket stages, and past collisions become hazards for spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.

FMI: https://en.cmse.gov.cn