Chinese Space Station Crew Safely Home After Swapping Capsules

China’s three-man Shenzhou-20 space station crew landed safely this morning (EST) in the Shenzhou-21 capsule. Their Shenzhou-21 colleagues remain aboard Tiangong-3 with the Shenzhou-20 capsule that apparently was damaged by space debris. China says a new Shenzhou-22 capsule will be launched for them “at the appropriate time in the future.”

Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie landed at the Dongfeng landing site at 4:40 pm Beijing Time (3:40 am EST) after 204 days in space. All three were out of the capsule by 5:21 pm Beijing Time (4:21 am EST).

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-21 spaceship, carrying the Shenzhou-20 astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday. pic.twitter.com/fhn9e5tbsh

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 14, 2025

China’s Xinhua news agency said Commander Chen Dong now has set two records: the first Chinese astronaut to accumulate more than 400 days in space and the first to conduct six spacewalks. This was his third spaceflight having flown on Shenzhou-11 and Shenhou-14. Chen Zhongrui and Wang were on their first spaceflight.

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) reported on November 4 that the Shenzhou-20 crew’s return, scheduled for November 5, would be delayed because of a suspected space debris impact on their spacecraft and an analysis and risk assessment were underway. Nothing more was said until November 11 when an obscurely worded article in China’s official news agency Xinhua said only that both the Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 crews were doing well. No mention was made of when Shenzhou-20 would return or any changes because of the debris strike. China space watchers posted on social media that airspace closures in the Dongfeng area suggested they would land this morning between 3:20-3:50 am EST, but it was only a few hours ago that China revealed they would be coming back in the Shenzhou-21 capsule. Even then China did not confirm the time.

After the landing, CMSA explained that the tiny cracks were found on Shenzhou-20’s “viewport window” with a debris strike the most likely cause.  That spacecraft is still attached to the space station. CMSA has said only that a new spacecraft, Shenzhou-22, will be launched “at the appropriate time in the future.”

Space debris — old satellites, rocket stages, or fragments thereof — is a growing problem, especially in low Earth orbit where the ISS and Tiangong-3 operate. Tiny remnants of asteroids called micrometeoroids are another hazard. The term MMOD — Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris — is used to refer to both. Even a fleck of paint flying at orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour can cause significant damage.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was damaged while docked at the ISS in late 2022 and all of its coolant leaked into space. The spacecraft was deemed unsafe and had to be replaced. It returned to Earth empty and subsequent analysis suggested it had been struck by a micrometeoroid, although it can be difficult to make such a determination. The Soyuz MS-22 crew, including NASA’s Frank Rubio, ended up staying on the ISS for a year instead of six months returning on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft sent to replace Soyuz MS-22.  The uncrewed Russian Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft also was struck by either space debris or a micrometeoroid while docked at the ISS in February 2023. Progress spacecraft are not designed to survive reentry, so it couldn’t be studied afterwards to narrow down the cause.

Whether China will provide further information about what happened to Shenzhou-20 after it returns to Earth, presumably empty like Soyuz MS-22, remains to be seen.