After being delayed for over a week due to damage to their first return capsule possibly from being struck by space debris three Chinese astronauts returned from their country's space station on Friday.
According to China's Manned Space Agency, the team used the newly arriving Shenzhou-21, which had transported a three person replacement crew to the station, to return after leaving their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft in orbit.
The impact of the spacecraft modification on the schedule of next trips to the Tiangong space station was unclear. Shenzhou-22 will be launched, but the space agency did not say when.
About five and a half hours after departing the space station, the return capsule used a red and white striped parachute before landing in the late afternoon at a remote location in the Gobi Desert of northern China. In the desolate surroundings, the collision created a massive cloud of dust.
The astronauts, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie, were initially supposed to return on November 5, four days following the arrival of the new crew, as part of a six month rotation.
It took nine days for them to return. According to the space agency on Friday, a window in the Shenzhou-20 return capsule suffered small cracks that were probably caused by impact by space debris, hence the original return plan was canceled.
Millions of mostly tiny particles of debris are circling the Earth at a speed greater than that of a bullet. They are dangerous for satellites, space stations, and the astronauts who work outside of them and can result from launches and collisions.
The agency reported earlier this week that the temporarily stranded astronauts, who had visited the space station in April, were "in good condition, working and living normally" after conducting experiments with the new crew.
Since 2003, China's space program has advanced steadily. In addition to constructing its own space station, it has used a robotic rover to explore Mars and hopes to put a human on the moon by 2030.
Following its exclusion from the International Space Station due to U.S. national security concerns, China constructed the Tiangong space station. China's military is in charge of its space program.
The "Heavenly Palace," or Tiangong, is smaller than the International Space Station.
Four mice were used in the most recent mission to examine the effects of confinement and weightlessness. According to a Chinese Academy of Sciences engineer, the study will contribute in the development of crucial technology for small mammal monitoring and breeding in space.
