Three Chinese astronauts are stuck 250 miles above Earth after a piece of orbiting junk smacked into their return capsule. It’s yet another sign that we’re turning space into a dangerous landfill.
According to China’s Manned Space Agency, the Shenzhou-20 crew—Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui, and commander Chen Dong—was supposed to head home Wednesday after a six-month mission aboard the Tiangong space station. Hours before undocking, sensors detected what officials described as a “suspected impact by small space debris.” The return module was sealed off, the trip postponed, and the crew told to sit tight while ground control assessed the damage.
In a statement posted to Weibo, the agency said an “impact analysis and risk assessment” was underway to ensure the safety of all six astronauts currently aboard Tiangong. The damaged capsule remains docked to the station, and engineers are deciding whether it’s safe to use or if the trio will need to ride home on the newly arrived Shenzhou-21, according to Reuters.
Commander Chen Dong has already broken China’s record for most cumulative days in orbit (more than 400), and that number keeps climbing as he and his crewmates wait. His situation is similar to that of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who inadvertently spent 371 days on the International Space Station in 2023 after a micrometeoroid punctured his Soyuz capsule.
China’s space station has had close calls before. In 2023, a stray fragment hit one of its solar panels and triggered a partial power outage. Extra shielding was added during later spacewalks, but there’s only so much protection possible when millions of metal shards orbit Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.
The debris problem is growing fast. Between satellite launches, rocket fragments, and defunct parts, low Earth orbit has become an obstacle course. Space agencies and private companies are testing cleanup methods ranging from nets and magnets to high-powered lasers, but for now, most astronauts simply hope for clear skies.
For the Shenzhou-20 crew, the situation isn’t life-threatening, but it’s tense. Three people are floating inside a lab the size of a bus, waiting for engineers to tell them when it’s safe to come home—and hoping no more trash slams into them.
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