ANKARA

The return of China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed after a suspected impact from tiny space debris, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.

The agency said impact analysis and risk assessment are currently underway, state-run Xinhua News reported.

"The decision to delay the return aims to ensure the astronauts' safety and mission success,” said the agency.

However, the agency didn't announce the new date for the crew's return.

On Tuesday, the agency said that the crew of China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft completed an in-orbit handover with the Shenzhou-21 team aboard the Chinese Space Station, and the Shenzhou-20 astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday.

The Shenzhou-20 crew has been in orbit for 188 days. The commander of the Shenzhou-20 crew, Chen Dong, has become the first Chinese astronaut to spend more than 400 days in space, as well as the Chinese astronaut with the most spacewalks to date, with six extravehicular activities under his belt.

On Friday, China launched its sixth crewed flight mission into space with three astronauts, including its youngest-ever astronaut, and four mice onboard.

The taikonauts are also carrying four mice, including two males and two females, to China’s Tiangong space station for the first time to carry out experiments.