By Sarah Sankel
Correspondent
Three Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou-20 mission were trapped on the Tiangong Space Station with no ride home, returning to Earth after a nine day delay. According to Space.com, the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft used to rescue the astronauts left three more astronauts on the space station who are now stuck without a ride home. It is unclear when exactly the next mission, Shenzhou-22, will launch to rescue this second trio of astronauts.
The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), which can be seen as the Chinese equivalent of NASA in the United States, oversees China’s space missions, including the Shenzhou-20, 21 and 22 trips. The Tiangong Space Station, which was completed in 2022, is China’s first space station and is about one-third the size of the International Space Station.
Other CNSA projects include a moon landing by 2030 and a robotic rover currently on Mars, according to AP News.
The astronauts from the first mission, Shenzhou-20, stayed on the station for 204 days. This was nine more days than planned and was the longest any astronaut has stayed on the Tiangong Space Station, according to AP News.
According to Reuters, the astronauts were unable to fly back to land on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft due to cracks in the return capsule’s window, which was caused by space debris hitting the capsule.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said, according to Reuters, “The capsule does not meet the safety requirements for a crewed return, Shenzhou-20 will remain in orbit and conduct relevant experiments.”
Four mice who were also stuck in space accompanied the three astronauts of Shenzhou-20 back to Earth. According to AP News, they were brought along to study the effects of weightlessness and confinement.
As for the three astronauts from the Shenzhou-21 mission, they are currently still in space. According to a Space.com article, they were originally waiting for a spacecraft to arrive and bring them back to earth, with China aiming for Nov. 25 as the launch date for a second rescue mission, entitled Shenzhou-22.
According to Space.com, China's Shenzhou-21 crew is instead set to spend the remainder of
Their six-month mission aboard the station, continuing their research in the meantime, until they will be relieved of their duties by the Shenzhou-23 crew, which is expected to launch in April 2026.
Astronauts being stuck in space is not an unusual occurrence in space history. Earlier this year, American astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s space voyage was lengthened from eight days to ten months after system failures occurred near the International Space Station, according to BBC News.
Although the delay of Shenzhou-20 was only nine days, Reuters writers found it unusual for the CNSA to experience a delay like this after having worked like clockwork over the past year. It remains to be seen whether this delay will impact other Chinese space projects.
