The Chinese spacecraft "Shenzhou-20", which was previously deemed unfit for flight due to a crack in the window of the return capsule, will be sent back to Earth without a crew so that specialists can thoroughly assess its damage. This was reported by the state television company CCTV on Monday, writes UNN.
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On November 5, "Shenzhou-20" was supposed to return astronauts after a six-month stay at the Tiangong orbital station, but the discovered crack forced the mission to be postponed - for the first time in the history of Chinese manned flights. The crew was forced to use another ship, and the damaged vessel remained docked at the station.
Ji Qiming, a spokesman for the China Manned Space Agency, noted that the ship will "obtain the most reliable experimental data" during its return. Shenzhou designer Jia Shijin added that the crack was caused by a space debris less than a millimeter in size, which was moving extremely fast, and extends for a centimeter.
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We cannot directly examine it in orbit, so we will carefully study it after its return
The decision to postpone the mission was made to avoid potentially fatal cabin depressurization and overloading of the astronauts' life support systems.