The Shenzhou-20 astronauts have returned to Earth on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft after engineers deemed the Shenzhou-20 vehicle unsafe following a debris strike while it was docked to the Tiangong space station.

The debris struck the viewport window of the Shenzhou-20 capsule, where tiny cracks were observed, according to the China Manned Spaceflight Agency (CMSA). It is unclear when the damage occurred, but it was sufficient for the CMSA to consider the spacecraft unsafe for astronauts .

This leaves the Shenzhou-21 crew on the Tiangong station with the potentially unusable Shenzhou-20 capsule. It is therefore likely that the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will be launched, uncrewed, as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the Shenzhou-20 will remain in orbit.

The Shenzhou-21 capsule carrying C

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