{"id":799340,"date":"2025-11-25T05:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=799340"},"modified":"2025-11-25T05:39:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:39:28","slug":"china-launches-shenzhou-22-spacecraft-to-assist-in-return-of-3-stranded-astronauts-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=799340","title":{"rendered":"China launches Shenzhou 22 spacecraft to assist in return of 3 stranded astronauts : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, the Shenzhou-22 spaceship, atop a Long March-2F Y22 rocket, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwestern China, on Tuesday.
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Lian Zhen\/Xinhua<\/p>\n

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Lian Zhen\/Xinhua<\/p>\n

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BEIJING \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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The Shenzhou 22, which successfully docked at the Tiangong space station Tuesday, will be used sometime in 2026 by the three astronauts who arrived on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, another group of Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou 20 mission faced a nine-day delay in their return to Earth after their craft’s window was damaged. They eventually returned using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had just carried the replacement crew to Tiangong.<\/p>\n

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 case of an emergency.<\/p>\n