China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday, which successfully docked with the Tiangong space station. The mission's objective is to provide a return vehicle for the three astronauts who arrived at the station on November 1, with their return anticipated in 2026.
This mission follows an incident earlier in the month where another group of Chinese astronauts, from the Shenzhou 20 mission, experienced a nine-day delay in their Earth return. Their spacecraft's window was damaged, leading to its determination as unsafe for astronaut transport. The Shenzhou 20 crew ultimately returned using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had simultaneously transported the replacement crew to Tiangong. Consequently, the three incoming astronauts temporarily lacked an assured return method in an emergency. The damaged Shenzhou 20 spacecraft remains in space for now and will be brought down for assessment at a later date, as reported by state broadcaster CCTV.
China's space program has been conducting missions to the Tiangong space station, which means "Heavenly Palace," for several years, building the station module-by-module. Tiangong hosted its first crew in 2021. The station's development occurred after China's exclusion from the International Space Station, a decision linked to U.S. national security concerns regarding the military control of China's space program. Tiangong is comparatively smaller than the International Space Station, which has been operational for 25 years.