When the International Space Station plunges to its fiery doom in 2030 its loss to science will be incalculable, even if it remains an open question as to whether its successes matched humanity's ambitions for it.

According to a statement shared by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the return flight of three taikonauts, who were expecting to return to Earth this week after six months in orbit, has been delayed while they assess damage to the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft.

By 2030, the iconic ISS – where the world's astronauts have lived, worked and gazed upon the cosmos for more than two decades – will be no more.

Shenzhou 20 crew's scheduled departure from Tiangong space station was delayed due to issues with the landing spacecraft.

Humans have been in space onboard the ISS continuously for 25 years. As the station nears its end, new commercial habitats are lining up to take its place

Since the first crew of astronauts reached the International Space Station on Nov. 2, 2000, humanity has had a continuous presence among the stars.

In a video released by the Astronaut Center of China (ACC), the space station crew is seen securing a set of chicken wings in a specially made grill cage and placing it in a small, cabinet-like compartment in the space station's wall.

Haven Demo achieved mission success after deploying from SpaceX’s Bandwagon-4 flight on Nov 2, 2025. Following nominal separation and stable sun-pointing, the spacecraft captured 4K video of its solar array deployment and is power-positive. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rlGBjZVi4S