Space junk delays astronauts returning home

Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui, and Chen Dong left earth in April 2025.

Three astronauts who have been on a space station for the past 6 months will have to wait a little bit longer to get home.

It wasn't bad space traffic that delayed them, but tiny bits of space debris causing trouble for astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie.

It's suspected bits of space junk hit their return spacecraft - Shenzhou-20.

That means the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) is now doing lots of tests and assessments to make sure the ship is safe for the astronauts to use.

Shenzou-20 launched in April this year from the Gobi Desert

The trio were originally due to return home on Wednesday, landing in northern China.

Whilst the delay could be short, a new date for their return has not yet been set.

It isn't the first time that astronauts have been stranded on space stations. Earlier this year Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were stuck in space for nine months.

Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei and Commander Zhang Lu are taking over duties on the space station

The trio were on the Tiangong Space Station as part of the Shenzhou programme, which takes trios of Chinese astronauts to and from the station for six month stays.

The astronauts perform lots of different tasks, including repairing damage to the station.

A new trio of astronauts arrived at the space station last week to take over from the team, arriving on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.

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