By Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING (Reuters) -A trio of Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after getting stuck on China’s space station for more than a week due to their spacecraft sustaining debris damage, leaving China without an immediate way of bringing home the new crew in an emergency.

Here is what has happened and why it is important.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHENZHOU-20 SPACECRAFT?

The Shenzhou-20 vessel was left at the space station after China Manned Space Agency decided that a window crack was enough to make it unfit to fly.

The Shenzhou-20 crew – Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie – came home in the Shenzhou-21, which had been due to return to Earth in six months’ time.

Two weeks ago, the Shenzhou-21 transported the three astronauts taking over from the Shenzhou-20 cr

See Full Page