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The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) aunched the Long March 2F YZ-22 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 12:11 hours Beijing Time on 25 November. The Shenzhou-22 spaceship that it was carrying was successfully deployed in Earth orbit ten minutes later. The spaceship conducted a status check, then proceeded for a rapid autonomous docking with the forward port of the Tianhe core module on the Tiangong space station. This was the first time in the history of Chinese spaceflight that an emergency mission was launched. The Shenzhou-22 spaceship will serve as the return vehicle for the Shenzhou-21 crew, after the next crew rotation in about six months.
The successful mission validates the safety strategy of the CMSA that relies on the ability to rapidly launch a replacement spaceship with a short turnaround time. The strategy is termed 'launch one, prepare one, rolling backup'. The Shenzhou-22 spaceship is carrying aerospace food, medicines, fresh fruits, vegetables and gear for maintenance and upgrades of the Tiangong space station. There is also a device on board to fix the crack in the porthole of the Shenzhou-20 spaceship, that prompted the rescue mission in the first place. The replacement spaceship return, launch of the next spaceship and docking was all achieved within 20 days of the discovery of the damage.
At the start of the month, China successfully executed the seventh crew rotation on Tiangong, sending up three Taikonauts or Chinese spacemen on the Shenzhou-21 spaceship. The Shenzhou-20 crew of three handed over the orbital complex to the Shenzhou-21 crew, and celebrated with a space BBQ party. It was then discovered that impact from a suspected piece of micro-debris had damaged the porthole on the Shenzhou-20 spaceship. The ground teams activated emergency procedures, returned the Shenzhou-20 crew on the Shenzhou-21 spaceship, and rapidly launched the Shenzhou-22 spaceship that was prepared on the ground in case of such contingencies.
