"China has rushed to launch an uncrewed spacecraft to relieve three astronauts left on board the Tiangong space station without a passage to Earth. State broadcaster CCTV showed a Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre shortly after noon local time (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday. list of 4 itemsend of list The Shenzhou-22 mission was originally planned to be crewed and take off in 2026."
"However, the launch was brought forward after debris damaged the Shenzhou-20, which is currently attached to the Tiangong station, making it unsafe for carrying humans to Earth. That disrupted the last crew change on the permanently crewed Chinese space station in November. Unable to fly home in Shenzhou-20, the three taikonauts as Chinese astronauts are known who had arrived in April for their six-month stay were forced to use Shenzhou-21 to return to Earth."
China launched an uncrewed Shenzhou-22 aboard a Long March-2F rocket from Jiuquan to provide a return-capable vessel for the Tiangong crew. Debris damaged the docked Shenzhou-20, rendering it unsafe for returning astronauts and prompting advancement of the originally crewed 2026 Shenzhou-22 mission. The three taikonauts currently aboard Tiangong — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — continue normal operations but lacked a flightworthy emergency return capsule after using Shenzhou-21 for the previous crew swap. Shenzhou-22 will fill the evacuation gap and restore a safe return option. The incident represents a setback for China’s expanding space program and lunar ambitions.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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