Overview
- The planned Gobi Desert landing for Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie was postponed until further notice, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
- Officials say safety analyses and risk assessments are underway to confirm whether the return capsule is safe for reentry.
- A new three-person team on Shenzhou 21 — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — has completed the handover and assumed station duties.
- Shenzhou 20 spent roughly six months on Tiangong conducting experiments and strengthening debris shielding, including repairs after earlier impacts.
- The delay highlights the growing space junk hazard, with the European Space Agency estimating over one million objects larger than one centimeter and UN experts calling for shared tracking and traffic management frameworks.