RETURN OF SHENZHOU-20 CHINESE SPACE STATION CREW, Nov 14, 2025, Dongfeng, China, 3:20 am EST?

Update, November 13, 8:25 pm ET:  China has finally clarified the situation. Xinhua says the Shenzhou-20 crew will return tomorrow, but in the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft. A new spacecraft, Shenzhou-22, will be launched “at the appropriate time” that the Shenzhou-21 crew presumably will use to come home.  Xinhua did not, however, confirm the time for the landing.

Original Entry: On November 4, China announced the delay of the return of the Shenzhou-20 space station crew because of concern that their spacecraft was struck by space debris.

Little information has been publicly released since.

As of November 13, 12:00 pm EST, China’s official news agency Xinhua has not published a return date, but China space watchers are expecting a landing tomorrow, November 14, between 16:20-16:50 Beijing time (3:20-3:50 am Eastern Standard Time) based on airspace closure notices near the Dongfeng landing site.

There’s an airspace closure notice suggesting Shenzhou-20 will return to Earth between 0820-0850 UTC on Friday (Nov. 14). No official statement from China’s human spaceflight agency yet. https://t.co/WHgFWNOLMt

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) November 12, 2025

The crew of the Shenzhou 20 manned spaceflight will return to the Dongfeng landing site, with a no-fly zone issued from 16:20 to 16:50 Beijing Time on November 14, 2025. Source:https://t.co/rTf0tzo0t9 pic.twitter.com/hqycQ1SZFU

— CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) November 13, 2025

We’ll post any new information we get from official Chinese sources, but this is the best we have at this moment.