China's state media said the country is preparing to launch the Zhenzhou 22 spacecraft earlier than planned to maintain the stable operation of the manned space program.
The spacecraft will be launched into the Thien Cung space station with the mission of carrying goods, necessities and equipment to serve the station's operations. The decision to adjust the progress earlier stemmed from the incident that damaged the Than Chau 20 ship while anchored at the station, suspected to have collided with debris in the air, causing a slight crack in the runway window.
The Than Chau 20 spacecraft has been operating stably since 2021 until the incident more than a week ago, forcing the three members on board to extend their mission by 9 days with three other astronauts.
They then moved to the Than Chau 21 ship and returned to Earth safely, leaving the three new astronauts two weeks ago temporarily without a means of return in case of an emergency.
Sending Than Chau 22 early is to overcome this risk and is expected to allow the team on duty to return to Earth around April 2026 after a half-year shift.
The Tianjin Station can accommodate up to 6 people in a short time, but the design only supports 3 astronauts to maintain the mission for 6 months. Experts believe that Than Chau 20 could be separated from the station and sent to the Pacific Ocean, but China has not yet announced an official handling plan.
