Pakistan, Nov. 15 -- Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after their original landing was postponed due to space debris striking their spacecraft last week. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) revealed that "tiny cracks" had been discovered in a window of the Shenzhou-20 return capsule, which did not meet safety standards for crewed re-entry

The astronauts were initially scheduled to return on November 5, following a six-month mission aboard China's Tiangong space station. After the damage was detected, they transferred to the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft to safely complete their journey, landing at the Dongfeng site in Inner Mongolia.

The Shenzhou-20 mission, which began in April, had proceeded smoothly until the unexpected...