The Shenzhou-20 crew is scheduled to return to Earth on Friday aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.

The spaceship will return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The astronauts - Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie - are in good shape, and the landing zone and all participating systems are making preparations for their touchdown.

The crew's return, originally scheduled for November 5, was postponed due to a suspected impact from tiny space debris on the Shenzhou-20 spaceship.

The CMSA said later on Friday that the Shenzhou-21 spaceship undocked from the space station combination and will commence the return mission of sending the Shenzhou-20 astronauts back to Earth, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The agency said the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft does not meet the requirements for the astronauts' safe return and will remain in orbit to continue relevant experiments.

The Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will be launched at an appropriate time in the future, the CMSA added.
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Last updated: 2025-11-14 HKT 12:34