Three Chinese astronauts who were marooned in space for more than a week now have a safe way of returning to Earth after an unmanned "lifeboat" spacecraft was sent to meet them in orbit aboard the Tiangong space station. However, the trio will not be coming home until spring 2026, when their original mission is scheduled to end.
The rescue mission concludes a nearly month-long saga that began when a piece of suspected space junk hit and damaged another return capsule hours before its passengers were due to depart from the space station — sparking a chain reaction of orbital strandings.
