Beijing — China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday to assist deliver again a workforce of astronauts after a broken spacecraft left them quickly stranded on China’s area station.
The Shenzhou 22 will probably be used someday in 2026 by the three astronauts who docked on the Tiangong area station on Nov. 1.
The Lengthy March-2F Y22 provider rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-22 spaceship, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Heart on Nov. 25, 2025 in northwest China.
VCG / VCG through Getty Photos
Earlier this month, one other group of Chinese language astronauts from the Shenzhou 20 mission confronted a nine-day delay of their return to Earth after their craft’s window was broken. They finally returned utilizing the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had simply carried the alternative crew to Tiangong.
Whereas the three-person crew landed safely on Earth, three of their fellow astronauts on the alternative crew had been quickly left with out a assured option to return in case of an emergency.
The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft – the broken one, which for now stays in area – will probably be introduced all the way down to Earth later and assessed, in line with state broadcaster CCTV. The area program decided it didn’t meet security requirements for transporting the astronauts.
Chinese language astronauts have been finishing up missions to the Tiangong area station in recent times as a part of Beijing’s quickly progressing area program, initially constructing out the station module-by-module.
China developed Tiangong after the nation was excluded from the Worldwide Area Station over U.S. nationwide safety considerations, since China’s area program is managed by its army.
Tiangong, which implies “Heavenly Palace,” hosted its first crew in 2021. It’s smaller than the Worldwide Area Station, which has been working for 25 years.
