Ninth crewed flight to the Chinese space station. Due to damage sustained by the spacecraft's descent module porthole window by orbital debris collision found in early November 2025, the spacecraft was deemed unsuitable for crew return. Shenzhou 22 was launched without crew as replacement, and Shenzhou 20 will return to Earth without crew after EVA inspection by the onboard crew.
The Long March 2F is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 2F/G version includes longer boosters for increased lift capability, among other improvements.
Spacecraft used to launch 3 astronauts on the 9th crewed mission to the Chinese Space Station.
Shenzhou Details
Date of
Birth: Dec. 12, 1978
Age: 47
Date of
Birth: Sept. 1, 1989
Age: 36
Date of
Birth: Oct. 1, 1984
Age: 41
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
INFO WIKIChina’s damaged Shenzhou-20 spacecraft returned safely to Earth after on-orbit internal repairs, concluding the country’s first human spaceflight emergency triggered by a suspected debris impact. The post Damaged Shenzhou-20 spacecraft su…
China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft has successfully returned to Earth from the Tiangong space station. No one was aboard. Apparently damaged by space debris, it was deemed unsafe to return the crew […]
Two Shenzhou-21 taikonauts conducted a spacewalk yesterday that included inspecting the damaged window on Shenzhou-20 that remains docked to the Tiangong space station. Last month the Shenzhou-20 crew had to […]
China could be without emergency launch capability to Tiangong space station for months, leaving no rapid-response option for any new crisis following the Shenzhou-20 incident. The post China faces temporary emergency launch gap after spa…
China’s three-man Shenzhou-20 space station crew landed safely this morning (EST) in the Shenzhou-21 capsule. Their Shenzhou-21 colleagues remain aboard Tiangong-3 with the Shenzhou-20 capsule that apparently was damaged by […]
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Chinese satellite reported to be for "space environment research" purposes. Actual usage not known.
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Commercial Synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd.
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Chinese commercial small satellites by Beijing-based company Future Navigation for providing GNSS augmentation signals services from LEO. They are pa…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.
A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.