China prepares to launch Shenzhou-22 unmanned spacecraft to Tiangong space station. It will provide members of the Shenzhou-21 expedition, which are stuck in orbit, a means of returning home safely.
The Shenzhou-21 mission was launched 31 October 2025 year. 4 in November, its members took over command of the Tiangong orbital station from the crew of the Shenzhou-20 mission, who was soon to return to Earth. However, this flight was delayed due to the detection of damage to the porthole of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft.. Most likely, it arose as a result of the impact of a fragment of space debris.
After assessing the situation, China Manned Space Flight Administration (CMSA) came to a conclusion, that a crack in the outer layer of the heat-resistant glass of the porthole can lead to its breakage. As a result, the inner layers are exposed to high-temperature plasma during entry into the atmosphere, which can lead to the loss of porthole integrity and depressurization of the spacecraft.
Therefore, it was decided to return the crew of "Shenzhou-20" on the ships of their successors. They successfully returned to Earth on the ship "Shenzhou-21" 14 November.
Regarding the ship "Shenzhou-20", then it remained docked to the station and will be operated in the experimental platform mode.
Now China needs to solve the problems of the safe return of the Shenzhou-21 crew, which effectively remained in orbit without a rescue boat. The "Shenzhou-22" mission ship will be used for this purpose., which was originally planned to be sent into space around April-May 2026 year. It will now be launched in drone mode, it will carry food and supplies for cosmonauts, as well as equipment for the "Tiangong" station.
So far, the CMSA has not named the launch date of "Shenzhou-22". However, reports of the closure of the airspace around the Jiuquan Spaceport in the Gobi Desert indicate that, that China plans to implement it 25 November.
Source: https://www.livescience.com