China's stranded astronauts to return from space station on spacecraft that brought new crew

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BEIJING (AP) — A three-person crew stranded at China's space station after their spacecraft was apparently hit by space debris will return Friday using the craft that brought their replacement crew, state media said.

The three astronauts were on a six-month rotation at the space station and supposed to return four days after the new crew arrived on Nov. 1.

Their return was aborted after their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was believed to have been struck by a small piece of space debris. They are coming back using the Shenzhou-21 craft instead, state media said.

The three astronauts — Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — traveled to the Tiangong space station in April.

The were "in good condition, working and living normally,” China's Manned Space Engineering office said on Tuesday.

China has made steady progress with its space program since 2003. It has built its own space station and has a goal of landing a person on the moon by 2030.

The latest Shenzhou-21 mission brought mice for experiments, a first for China's space program.