HELSINKI — China’s uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft has arrived at the Tiangong space station, reestablishing a lifeboat for the crew and ending the orbital outpost’s first operational emergency.

The Shenzhou-22 spaceship on Tuesday successfully docked with the Tiangong space station hours after launch, successfully accomplishing the first emergency launch mission in the nation's space programme.

The Shenzhou 22 mission, originally scheduled to fly next year, is now scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 04:11 UTC from Site 901 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Inner Mongolia province. Shenzhou 22, mounted atop a Chang Zheng-2F rocket, will launch without crew and dock autonomously with the Tiangong space station.

China's Shenzhou-22 mission blasted off on Tuesday as the country looks to plug safety risks to its crewed spaceflight program and space station after a vessel was damaged in orbit earlier this month.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China will launch the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecraft on Tuesday, its space authorities said on Monday, a move that will help return its space station and manned flight programme to normality after a vessel was damaged in early November.

The country's first emergency space launch entered orbit after blasting off, as the country looks to plug safety risks at its crewed space station after a vessel was damaged in orbit earlier this month.

China launched the Shenzhou-22 mission in just 16 days, after a cracked window on the Shenzhou-20 return capsule raised safety fears. The spacecraft carried vital cargo including medical supplies, spare parts for the space station,

China lanzó el martes la nave espacial Shenzhou 22 para ayudar a traer de vuelta a un equipo de astronautas después de que una nave espacial