November 11, 2025
2 min read
China’s Stranded Astronauts Are Safe—For Now. But How Will They Get Home?
There are six people living on the Chinese space station Tiangong at the moment, and the plan to bring three of them back is in progress
From left to right: Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong, astronauts for China’s Shenzhou 20 space mission, wave during a departure ceremony before boarding a bus to take them to their spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China on April 24, 2025.
Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images
China is preparing to rescue three astronauts who took refuge in the Tiangong space station after a suspected space-junk strike on their spacecraft last week, Chinese officials said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE) said engineers have carried out extensive tests on a backup capsule that they plan to use to bring the three men back to Earth.
“All work is progressing steadily and orderly according to plan,” the agency said.
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China’s Tiangong, which spans some 180 feet, typically hosts a crew of three astronauts in six-month stints. A new three-person crew arrived at the space station to take over from the stranded astronauts in October.
But because of the space debris emergency, both crews remain onboard. While unusual, the station is designed to support two crews in orbit simultaneously, CMSE said.
“The Shenzhou-20 astronaut crew is working and living normally and is conducting in-orbit scientific experiments together with the Shenzhou-21 astronaut crew,” the agency said.
“It’s probably a bit crowded,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “It’s cramped, but it’s big enough for them to float around in.”
McDowell adds that Chinese officials have been vague about the debris that allegedly struck the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft and the extent of the damage. “That’s frustrating,” he says. “Is it a small hole, a big hole? Is it a pressure drop? Is it a visible scar on the spacecraft? We don’t know.”
The Shenzhou 21 spacecraft could be used to bring the Shenzhou 20 crew home. But if that happens, the Shenzhou 21 crew may be left without a return vehicle for some time. McDowell says China will likely launch a new craft to collect the astronauts instead. “They wouldn’t let anybody on the space station without a ride home,” he adds.
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