China's space agency has announced it will return a damaged spacecraft docked on Tiangong space station to Earth without crew after a suspected debris strike left it unfit for flight.

The three astronauts of China's Shenzhou 20 mission were set to depart the nation's space station on Nov. 5, but that same day, a surprise statement from China's Manned Spaceflight Agency (CMSA) announced the crew would be staying aboard the orbital lab for a little longer. Their spacecraft had been damaged after a suspected debris strike left a crack in the spacecraft's viewport, making a return to Earth in it too risky.

As a result, the three Shenzhou 20 astronauts later returned to Earth in their relief crew's spacecraft on Nov. 14. However, this left the three-person relief crew of the Shenzhou 21 missi

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