Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

China’s first emergency operation in its human spaceflight program came to an end as an uncrewed Shenzhou 20 return capsule parachuted into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on January 19.

The spacecraft had spent 270 days in orbit, docked for nine months to the country’s Tiangong space station.

And that wasn’t the plan.

Go to my new Space.com story – “Chinese capsule damaged by space-junk strike returns to Earth (video) – Shenzhou 20 survived the trip through Earth’s atmosphere in one piece” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/chinese-capsule-damaged-by-space-junk-strike-returns-to-earth-video