China's Shenzhou-21 manned spacecraft undocked from the combined space station and will begin its return mission to send Shenzhou-20 astronauts to Earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The spacecraft separated from the combined space station at 11:14 a.m. Beijing Time (10:14 a.m. Western Indonesian Time) and will later re-enter the atmosphere and return to ground command, with astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie on board.
The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft does not meet the requirements for safely returning astronauts and will remain in orbit to continue related experiments, the CMSA said.
A small crack has been found on the viewing window of the spacecraft's return capsule, which was likely caused by external impact from space debris, according to the CMSA.