Three Chinese astronauts return to Tierra after being in space for more than a week. The three landed at 17:21 (Beijing time, seven hours shorter on the Spanish peninsula). “I exited the capsule safely and am in good health,” the China Manned Space Administration said in a statement, along with a photo of the astronaut smiling outside the capsule. The landing took place in the Dongfeng region of northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The return was scheduled for November 5, but was postponed after the aforementioned agencies notified of the risk of “seed” impact from “small pieces of the spacebase” on the Shenzhou-20 ship that was scheduled to return.
Finally, after spending more than six months on the Chinese space station Tiangong, the three crew members began their next mission to return home. But I can’t wait to get on board his return ship just inside the alternate mission at Shenzhou-21.
“At 11:14 a.m. on November 14, 2025 (Beijing time), the Shenzhou 21 manned spacecraft successfully separated from the space station complex,” the space agency reported this morning. “Then, the Shenzhou 21 return capsule will re-enter at the right time through remote control from the ground, and astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie are about to embark on their return journey.”
The three Shenzhou 20 crew departed from China’s historic Jiuquan base in the middle of the Gobi Desert (northwest of the country) on April 24 last year, bound for the Chinese space station Tiangong, where they have resided since then until this summer.
Normally, a Shenzhou mission ends with the arrival of rescue personnel and the handover of operations and management on the space station. On days when the two missions overlap, their ship remains anchored at the station. In this case, due to damage to Shenzhou 20, the crew was forced to use another return ship, and the Shenzhou 21 astronauts were left without aboard the return ship for several days.
“The side window crystal of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft has microscopic cracks, probably caused by the external impact of space debris, and therefore does not meet the necessary safety conditions to allow manned return,” the bureau said, explaining that it was behind a “comprehensive assessment” based on photo interpretation, design verification, simulation analysis and wind tunnel experiments. “La Shenzhou-20 will remain in orbit to continue the corresponding experiments.”
The three astronauts embarking on the return journey are mission commander Chen Dong, 46, a former combat pilot and decorated man, Chen Zhongrui, 41, a former Chinese Air Force pilot, and Wang Jie, 36, an aerospace engineer. The three spent 204 days in orbit, spending their time conducting scientific experiments in hopes of advancing their space careers. Chen, on his third space trip, is the only Chinese astronaut to spend more time in space, with his spaceflight taking 418 days. He is also the person who has performed the most spacewalks, with six.
“Each space trip is unique. We want to gain more experience and advance our operations. The most important thing in this mission is to complete the work without mistakes,” the commander confessed during an appearance in Jiuqian last April, hours before departure. “May the vastness of space testify to the boundless loyalty of the Chinese Space Soldiers.”
His replacement, the Shenzhou-21 mission, was assembled by three other crew members and departed on October 31, with his ship successfully docking with Tiangong just hours earlier. The six astronauts were scheduled to live together on the space station until Nov. 5, but a discrepancy on the return craft forced them to change planes, an unusual move for China’s space program.
In light of this situation, the Japan Manned Space Flight Agency announced on Wednesday that it would begin “emergency planning and emergency measures” based on the principle that “human life and safety come first.” He also assured that space station facilities are in “normal conditions” and capable of keeping the astronaut team in orbit. “The crew of the Shenzhou 20 mission are working and living their lives as usual, and are conducting scientific experiments in orbit with the crew of the Shenzhou 21 mission,” he said.
hong kong diary South China Morning Post clarified through anonymous sources that Shenzhou 22 was originally built for the next crew rotation, is scheduled to launch next spring, and is being prepared and supplied at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. “As planned, Shenzhou 22 will be launched at the appropriate time,” the Chinese Space Administration said in a statement.
China’s Tiangong base is like a star laboratory where experiments related to space exploration are conducted. crew Shenzhou-20 I have conducted experiments related to spatial biology, microgravity physics, and new spatial technologies. They also aimed to make advances in areas such as culturing chips for vascularized brain organoids (cells similar to the human brain), unbalanced dynamics of soft matter, and the preparation of space-based high-temperature superconducting materials.
The rotation, formed by Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang, has among its diverse scientific and technological goals the mission of installing protection devices against spatial pressure. Conduct experiments in fields such as life science and spatial biotechnology. The astronauts traveled to space with four mice (one female and one male) to study the effects of pregnancy and confinement on the behavioral patterns of mice.
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