BEIJING, November 14. /TASS/. The descent capsule with the crew of the Chinese Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft has landed on Earth, China Central Television reported, showing a live broadcast.
The three crew members – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie – touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China. They had to return on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft due to damage to the Shenzhou-20 caused by space debris that remained in orbit.
The Shenzhou-20 crew's return was scheduled for November 5 but was delayed several days due to the collision. Shenzhou-20 launched on April 24. The taikonauts spent six months in orbit.
On October 31, the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft with three taikonauts was launched to the orbital station. For several days after docking, the Shenzhou-21 and Shenzhou-20 crews remained at the station together.
China’s Tiangong space station is located at an altitude of about 400 kilometers and will operate for more than 10 years. It is designed for three people (up to six for short periods when crews rotate). The mass of the T-shaped complex (it is planned to expand it into a cross shape in the near future), which has three docking nodes and an airlock for space entry, is 66 tons, the volume of the compartments reaches 110 cubic meters. The orbital facility became operational in 2022 and has been available for international projects ever since.