The Shenzhou 22 mission, originally scheduled to fly next year, launched successfully 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, launched without crew and safely docked autonomously with the Tiangong space station after a three and a half hour orbital flight and rendezvous procedure.
Shenzhou 22 launched in a southeasterly direction to insert the 8,100 kg spacecraft into an orbit inclined 41.47 degrees to the equator, which matches Tiangong’s orbital inclination. The spacecraft, loaded with food and other supplies in place of crew, also maneuvered to match Tiangong’s 386 by 391 km orbit before docking to one of Tiangong’s two ports for Shenzhou spacecraft at 07:50 UTC.