FPI / November 14, 2025
By Richard Fisher
Nov. 4, 2025 began a heady day in space for the six Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong Space Station, having consumed the first ever “air fried” meal in space of chicken wings. This was followed by the usual propaganda photos of Shenzhou-20 crew (Commander Chen Dong; Chen Zhongrui; and Wang Jie) handing space station control to the Shenzhou-21 crew (Commander Zhang Lu; Wu Fei; and Zhang Hongzhang).
Preparations were well underway on Tiangong, and with ground control and at the Inner Mongolia landing zone, to receive the returning Shenzou-20 crew.
But toward the end of Nov. 4, about 9:13 pm Beijing time, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) that officially controls China’s manned space activities, made a jarring surprise announcement:
“The Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft is suspected of being struck by a small piece of space debris, and impact analysis and risk assessment are underway. To ensure the safety and health of the astronauts and the complete success of the mission, it has been decided that the Shenzhou-20 return mission, originally scheduled for Nov. 5th, will be postponed.”
Neither CMSEO or the Chinese government offered any additional detail regarding the extent of the damage to the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft — location or size of the damage, or what life-critical systems may have been affected.
In addition, CMSEO has revealed nothing of the origin of the space debris — China’s 2007 anti-satellite interception increased space debris around the Earth by an estimated 37 percent, with some estimates that China now accounts for 25 percent of total space debris.
On the early morning of Nov. 11, state media news flagship Xinhua issued an update, saying work on the Shenzhou-20 return, “is proceeding in an orderly manner as planned, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Tuesday.”
Xinhua added, “After the return mission was postponed, emergency response plans and measures were immediately activated, and a comprehensive simulation analysis, testing, and safety assessment of the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft were conducted to study the return implementation plan for the Shenzhou XX crew.”
The report concluded saying, “All systems are rigorously conducting joint tests as required, while key product status reviews and quality confirmations are carried out. Concurrently, the landing site is performing comprehensive exercises for the crew’s return.”
Again, though information was lacking, like how long will the Shenzhou-20 crew have to wait — their mission has lasted 201 days as of Nov. 11, while reports of the planned length was 180 days; a crew of six means double the consumption of oxygen and food.
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