When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.The Shenzhou 21 astronaut mission launches toward China’s Tiangong space station on Oct. 31, 2025. | Credit: CCTVIf an emergency arises aboard China’s Tiangong space station in the next few days, its three astronaut residents could be in trouble.That trio — members of the Shenzhou 21 mission — arrived at Tiangong on Oct. 31 for a six-month stay. But their planned ride home is already gone. On Thursday night (Nov. 13), the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft carried three different astronauts away from the station — members of the Shenzhou 20 mission, whose own vehicle was deemed unfit to carry people back to Earth after being damaged by a space-debris strike.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSo the Shenzhou 21 astronauts are currently living on Tiangong without a reliable lifeboat. The good news is, this somewhat dicey situation should be very temporary.China keeps a Long March 2F rocket and Shenzhou spacecraft “in a state of near readiness” at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center as a matter of policy during crewed missions, as SpaceNews’ Andrew Jones noted. If something goes wrong on Tiangong, this standby lifeboat can be launched to the station as little as 8.5 days later.That countdown has likely already begun for the Shenzhou 21 crew, as the lack of a safe ride home definitely qualifies as a contingency.Indeed, Chinese space officials have already said that the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft will be launched to Tiangong (presumably without anyone on board). They didn’t give a timeline, saying only that the liftoff will occur “at an appropriate time in the future.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut it’s safe to assume that launch day is near; the nation surely doesn’t want to expose its astronauts to any more risk than is necessary, and every day spent in orbit without a lifeboat is a risk.The Shenzhou 21 astronauts’ plight calls to mind the experience of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024 on the first-ever crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner capsule.Starliner suffered helium leaks and thruster issues on the way up, and NASA eventually decided to bring the spacecraft back to E …
