China launches spacecraft to bring three stranded astronauts back from space station sometime next year

Beijing — China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday to help bring back a team of astronauts after a damaged spacecraft left them temporarily stranded on China’s space station.

Shenzhou 22 will be used sometime in 2026 by the three astronauts who docked at the Tiangong space station on November 1.

Earlier this month, another group of Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou 20 mission faced a nine-day delay in their return to Earth after their ship’s window was damaged. They finally returned using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had I just took the replacement crew to Tiangong..

While the three-person crew landed safely on Earth, three of their fellow astronauts on the replacement crew were temporarily left without a guaranteed way to return in the event of an emergency.

The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft, the damaged one that remains in space for now, will be lowered to Earth later and evaluated, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The space program determined that it did not meet safety standards for transporting astronauts.

Chinese astronauts have been carrying out missions to the Tiangong space station in recent years as part of Beijing’s rapidly progressing space program, initially building the station module by module.

China developed Tiangong after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over US national security concerns, as China’s space program is controlled by its military.

Tiangong, which means “Heavenly Palace”, welcomed its first crew in 2021. It is smaller than the International Space Station, which has been in operation for 25 years.