A team of Chinese astronauts will have to stay in space longer than planned after their spacecraft was likely hit by a tiny piece of space debris.
The China Manned Space Agency said the astronauts’ return to Earth, originally set for Wednesday, has been delayed to make sure the crew is safe. Engineers are now checking the damage and running safety tests on the spacecraft.
According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, the new return date hasn’t been set yet.
The three astronauts — mission leader Chen Dong, pilot Chen Zhongrui, and engineer Wang Jie — launched in April as part of the Shenzhou-20 mission to the Tiangong space station. They were nearing the end of their six-month stay when the issue occurred.
Their replacements from the Shenzhou-21 mission — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang — successfully docked at the station on Saturday. If the Shenzhou-20 capsule can’t be repaired, the stranded crew may have to return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft instead.
Space junk, or debris from old rockets and satellites, can sometimes damage spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
China’s space program has grown quickly since it sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. The country has built its own space station and plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
The situation has drawn comparisons to a recent NASA mission. Earlier this year, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spent 286 days in space — far longer than planned — after their new Boeing Starliner capsule had technical problems. They finally returned to Earth in March, splashing down near Tallahassee, Florida, where a group of dolphins greeted them as recovery teams arrived.
