Chinese astronauts return to Earth after delay blamed on space debris damage
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 on Friday.
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00:00Three Chinese astronauts returned from their country's space station on Friday after a delay of more than a week.
00:09The return capsule they had planned to use was damaged, likely after being hit by space debris.
00:15The original return plan was scrapped because a window in the Cenzu-20 capsule had tiny cracks, China's space agency said.
00:23Instead, the team left their spacecraft in orbit and came back using the recently arrived Cenzu-21, which had ferried a three-person replacement crew to the station, the space agency said.
00:35The astronauts had been on a six-month rotation and were originally scheduled to return on the 5th of November, four days after the new crew arrived.
00:45Their return was delayed by nine days, making their 204-day stay in space the longest for any astronaut at China's space station.
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