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 [1]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.

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The Shenzhou-21 capsule carrying Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie [3]touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday morning.

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The plan had been for the Shenzhou-20 crew to return on November 5. A handover ceremony was performed on November 4, but soon after, the CMSA announced that the return had been postponed due to a suspected impact on the spacecraft by debris.

[5]SpaceX and Musk called on to rescue China's Shenzhou-20 crew

[6]China uses Mars orbiter to snap interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

[7]China refreshes crew of its 'Celestial Palace' space station

[8]China: Face-to-face meetings are best when swapping space station crews

While not over by any means, the incident is a stark reminder of the need for greater international cooperation when it comes to spaceflight. Though there were [9]calls for Elon Musk's SpaceX to "rescue" the Chinese astronauts, any attempt would have been extremely challenging both technically and politically.

Even on the International Space Station, problems can arise. The spacesuits used by the Boeing Starliner crew, for example, are not compatible with SpaceX's systems, which caused a headache when Boeing's Calamity Capsule was declared unsuitable for a crewed return.

There are international standards for various spacecraft systems. The [10]International Docking System Standard (IDSS) is a good example. It would be helpful, although politically challenging given the numerous restrictions on sharing technological know-how, if more details could be shared, allowing any agency or company to mount a rescue mission if required. ®

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[1] https://english.news.cn/20251114/5c680cfbde304d1ea804e7a151e0a8c4/c.html

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aRdgKD1V_92EvQB8faDMsQAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://english.news.cn/20251114/a74b13d90e1d42538fdc0b58d0653fdd/c.html

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aRdgKD1V_92EvQB8faDMsQAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/10/chinas_shenzhou_problem_shows_a/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/comet_3iatlas_mars_photos/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/30/china_tiangong_crew_refresh/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/china_tiangong_crewed_handover/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/10/chinas_shenzhou_problem_shows_a/

[10] https://www.internationaldockingstandard.com/

[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/