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News Topical, Digital Desk : A small piece of debris has struck China's space station, delaying the crew's scheduled return. The Chinese space agency said the delay was made to ensure the astronauts' safety and the mission's success.

China changes the station's crew every six months. On Saturday, the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft carrying the crew completed its return to orbit with the Shenzhou-21 crew and was scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday.

Return postponed

The three-member crew on board the station handed over the keys to the space station to the new crew members on Tuesday. The three crew members of Shenzhou-20, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, have completed all their planned tasks and were scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Wednesday.

However, their return has been postponed. Last Friday, China launched the Shenzhou-21 crewed spacecraft, carrying three astronauts on a six-month mission to the Chinese space station.


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China space station space debris impact crew return delayed Shenzhou-20 Chinese space agency space mission safety space station crew Dongfeng landing site Shenzhou-21 China space program