Last month, Chinese astronauts on board the country’s Tiangong space station discovered cracks in the window of their return vehicle, the Shenzhou-20, which officials suspected were the result of a space debris strike.

The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was deemed not safe enough to return its crew after the cracks were found, prompting an orbital game of musical chairs as the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) launched an emergency uncrewed replacement spacecraft, Shenzhou-22, to the station.

The goal was to provide the Shenzhou-21 crew, who arrived at the station right as the cracks were discovered, with an emergency escape vehicle, since the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft they’d flown up in had to step in to bring the Shenzhou-20 crew back to Earth, leaving their replacements temporarily stranded aboar

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