Chinese Astronauts Return From Their Space Station After Delay Blamed on Space Debris Damage

'Three Chinese astronauts returned from their nation's space station Friday,' reports the Associated Press, 'after more than a 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 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 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.

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