China launches unmanned Shenzhou-22 capsule to its Tiangong-3 station
China tonight (November 25, 2025 Chinese local time) successfully launched an unmanned Shenzhou-22 capsule to its Tiangong-3 station, its Long March 2F rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.
China moved very fast to get this rocket and capsule integrated and stacked and ready to launch, less than three weeks. This speed was essential because the three-person crew on Tiangong-3 had no usable lifeboat capsule which they could use should something go wrong and they needed to evacuate. Their capsule, Shenzhou-21, had been used by the previous crew to get back to Earth because that crew’s capsule, Shenzhou-20, had been damaged by “space debris,” according to China’s state-run press.
The capsule is scheduled to dock with Tiangong-3 later in the day, about six hours after launch.
No word by China’s press where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
154 SpaceX
73 China (a new record)
15 Rocket Lab
13 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 154 to 121.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
China tonight (November 25, 2025 Chinese local time) successfully launched an unmanned Shenzhou-22 capsule to its Tiangong-3 station, its Long March 2F rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.
China moved very fast to get this rocket and capsule integrated and stacked and ready to launch, less than three weeks. This speed was essential because the three-person crew on Tiangong-3 had no usable lifeboat capsule which they could use should something go wrong and they needed to evacuate. Their capsule, Shenzhou-21, had been used by the previous crew to get back to Earth because that crew’s capsule, Shenzhou-20, had been damaged by “space debris,” according to China’s state-run press.
The capsule is scheduled to dock with Tiangong-3 later in the day, about six hours after launch.
No word by China’s press where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
154 SpaceX
73 China (a new record)
15 Rocket Lab
13 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 154 to 121.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

