Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

China purposely delayed the return of its Shenzhou–20 crew from the country’s space station. The reason: a suspected impact of space debris that compromised the crew’s return vessel’s window.

Space officials in that country labeled the November 5 wave-off of the crew’s return to Earth as the first successful implementation of an “alternative return procedure” in China’s space station program history.

Shenzhou-20 crew back on Earth on November 14. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

The trio of taikonauts did return to Earth in a fresh but “borrowed” Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on November 14. But doing so left the current on-orbit, three-person space station crew with a damaged and docked vehicle that has been deemed unsafe for re-entry.

This incident is a wake-up call by advocates of a space rescue capability, and also a call for an organization to shape that capacity.

Go to my new Space.com story – “Space junk strike on China’s astronaut capsule highlights need for a space rescue service, experts say” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/space-junk-strike-on-chinas-astronaut-capsule-highlights-need-for-a-space-rescue-service-experts-say