News: 0180100367

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Chinese Astronauts Return From Their Space Station After Delay Blamed on Space Debris Damage (apnews.com)

(Sunday November 16, 2025 @10:40PM (EditorDavid) from the sticking-the-landing dept.)


"Three Chinese astronauts returned from their nation's space station Friday," [1]reports the Associated Press , "after more than a [2]week's delay because the return capsule they had planned to use was damaged, likely from being hit by space debris."

> The team left their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft in orbit and came back using the recently arrived Shenzhou-21, which had ferried a [3]three-person replacement crew to the station, China's Manned Space Agency said. The original return plan was scrapped because a window in the Shenzhou-20 capsule had tiny cracks, most likely caused by impact from [4]space debris , the space agency said Friday... Their return was delayed for nine days, and their 204-day stay in space was the longest for any astronaut at China's space station...

>

> China developed the Tiangong space station after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns. China's space program is controlled by its military.



[1] https://apnews.com/article/china-space-station-stranded-crew-shenzhou-e266f7106491b587e60d303068973761

[2] https://apnews.com/article/china-space-return-delayed-spacecraft-debris-5fdb4145e9b8590dd42b3f81dc605654

[3] https://apnews.com/article/china-space-station-shenzhou-launch-mice-55db8a37059086663fd0c2cbf992a03b

[4] https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-satellites-crash-earth-orbit-b21f43bbd8925d67264e41f6c24c73e1



Duh! (Score:3, Insightful)

by cusco ( 717999 )

> China's space program is controlled by its military.

Like NASA is ever allowed to do anything without permission from the Pentagram . . .

Chinese National Space Administration (Score:2)

by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 )

[1]Chinese National Space Administration [wikipedia.org]

> The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is the national space agency of China. Headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, it is responsible for China's civil space programs and international space cooperation. The CNSA is a national bureau under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.[2]

You might wonder where the AP got its information and where the "fact checkers" are.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Space_Administration

Re:Chinese Manned Space Agency (Score:3)

by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 )

> he China Manned Space Program (CMS) is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) under the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission

So the AP is correct. There is a general in the line of authority as commander of the Department. The program's director is a civilian engineer.

Karma's a bitch (Score:1)

by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 )

[1]https://www.armscontrol.org/ac... [armscontrol.org]

[1] https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007-03/chinese-satellite-destruction-stirs-debate

Re: (Score:2)

by cusco ( 717999 )

Wow, only 18 years ago, just like it was yesterday. Then the Pentagram did a similar test a year later, but that of course was just hunky-dory.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

It seems notable that in the recent UN Security Council vote to ban nuclear weapons in space that the Untied States was the only country opposing a joint Russian/Chinese amendment to ban **ALL weapons in space, which indicates that we almost certainly have non-nuclear weapons on orbit already.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Burnt_Frost

There are more ways of killing a cat than choking her with cream.