China appears to have set a launch date for an uncrewed spacecraft that will replace one damaged by space debris while docked at the Tiangong Space Station.
The three astronauts (or taikonauts) of the Shenzhou 21 mission are currently aboard China's Tiangong Space Station without a ride home after one of the nation's spacecraft was damaged by an apparent space debris strike. The impact left cracks in a window on the SZ-20 capsule, the spacecraft that launched the three crewmembers of the Shenzhou 20 crew to Tiangong in April 2025 and was set to bring them home. After that capsule was deemed unfit for the return flight, the Shenzhou 20 crew flew back to Earth aboard the current crew's spacecraft. That means the members of the Shenzhou 21 mission have been without a lifeboat for going on three days.
