A three-man crew stranded at China’s space station after its spacecraft was apparently hit by space debris will return Friday using the craft that brought its replacement crew, state media said.
The three astronauts were on a six-month rotation at the space station and supposed to return four days after the new crew arrived on November 1.
Their return was aborted after their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was believed to have been struck by a small piece of space debris.
They are coming back using the Shenzhou-21 craft instead, state media said.
The three astronauts – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie – travelled to the Tiangong space station in April.
They were “in good condition, working and living normally,” China’s Manned Space Engineering office said on Tuesday.
China has made steady progress with its space programme since 2003.
It has built its own space station and has a goal of landing a person on the moon by 2030.
The latest Shenzhou-21 mission brought mice for experiments, a first for China’s space programme.
