Damage to Chinese Spacecraft Was Worse Than Reported

"My first thought was whether a small leaf had somehow stuck to the outside of the window. But then I quickly realized that couldn't happen because we were in space. How could there possibly be a fallen leaf there? We could see very clearly the small cracks [with the microscope]. Several were relatively long, and one was shorter. We could also see that some of the cracks had penetrated through."

"I wasn't really nervous, pointing out that the outermost layer of the viewport is a protective layer, and inside it there are two pressure-bearing layers, and we are safe as long as the cabin pressure doesn't change."

In November, Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station discovered tiny cracks in their Shenzhou return spacecraft's viewport window, likely caused by space debris collision. The damage forced a delay in the crew's return and required sending an uncrewed replacement spacecraft to safely bring the astronauts home. Recent details reveal the situation was more serious than initially reported, with some cracks penetrating through the window layers. Astronaut Chen Dong described using a pen-shaped microscope to examine the damage, finding several long cracks and shorter ones. Crew member Wang Jie, an aerospace technician, noted the window's protective design with multiple pressure-bearing layers provided safety despite the damage.

Read at Futurism