Damaged spacecraft "Shenzhou 20" returns to Earth unmanned

The Chinese spacecraft “Shenzhou 20” has landed safely. Due to possible damage, it returned to Earth unmanned. According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), initial on-site checks found no damage.

The space capsule undocked from the “Tiangong” (Heavenly Palace) space station on January 16, 2026, at 0:23 AM Beijing time (January 15, 5:23 PM our time), the CSMA announced. It landed at 9:34 AM local time (2:34 AM our time) in the Dongfeng landing zone in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

“Shenzhou 20” had flown to the Chinese space station on April 24, 2025, with three taikonauts on board. The plan was for Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie to stay on the station until November 5, 2025, and then return to Earth with “Shenzhou 20.” However, the return was postponed due to the suspicion of a hit by a piece of space debris. A window was reportedly damaged.

CSMA Changes Its Plans

The CMSA subsequently changed its schedule: the Shenzhou 20 crew returned to Earth on November 14 aboard the spacecraft “Shenzhou 21.” To be able to bring its crew back to Earth in an emergency, the CMSA sent the spacecraft “Shenzhou 22” to Tiangong unmanned on November 25. According to CMSA, this was the first successful emergency launch in China's manned space program.

To reduce the risks during the reentry of “Shenzhou 20,” the Shenzhou 21 crew took high-resolution photos of the porthole during a spacewalk in early December 2025, documenting the condition of the cracks, the CMSA further stated. Additionally, the taikonauts installed a device to mitigate the damage to the porthole. This device arrived on Tiangong aboard “Shenzhou 22.”

According to CMSA, “Shenzhou 20” spent 270 days in space. This demonstrates that the spacecraft are capable of remaining docked in orbit for nine months.

(wpl)