However, that decision has now left the crew of Shenzhou-21, astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang without a vessel to return to Earth in case of another space emergency. On Friday, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced that the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will be launched 'at an appropriate time in the future,' with the likely goal of bringing replacements for the Shenzhou-21 team.
After putting 200 satellites into orbit in 2023, it has now doubled its orbital payloads from last year, and it is also building two substantial low-Earth-orbit constellations similar in some ways to Elon Musk's Starlink. These are just a few examples of howChina is speeding through its five-year national strategy for space. Launch vehicles have been expanded, satellites are continually being updated, and launch pads are being built for not just more but also faster missions. It has even tested experimental "dogfighting" satellites.
The first Trump administration unveiled its Artemis lunar landing program in 2017, aiming for astronaut boots on the moon in 2024 and an eventual Artemis Base Camp a decade later. These would not be Apollo-style flags-and-footprints sorties but rather longer-duration missions meant to support the construction of an eventual Artemis Base Camp lunar outpost; as such, they require bigger rockets and spacecraftand more complex hardware for surface operations.