A three-member crew stranded aboard China’s Tiangong space station after their return spacecraft was apparently struck by space debris will now return to Earth on Friday using the vehicle that transported their replacement crew, Chinese state media reported.
The astronauts were originally scheduled to return four days after the arrival of the new Shenzhou-21 crew on November 1. However, their departure was halted when their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was believed to have been hit by a small fragment of orbital debris, making it unsafe for re-entry.
According to state media, the crew will now use the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft the vehicle that recently delivered their successors to make the trip home.
The stranded crew members, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie, have been aboard the Tiangong space station since April as part of a routine six-month mission. The China Manned Space Engineering Office confirmed on Tuesday that the astronauts remained “in good condition, working and living normally” despite the delay.
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China has continued to advance its space ambitions since launching its first manned mission in 2003. It has since constructed the Tiangong space station and set a target to land Chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030.
The Shenzhou-21 mission, which arrived in November, also carried mice for scientific experiments marking the first time China has sent live rodents into orbit as part of its expanding research agenda.
