By Anadolu staff
China on Tuesday launched the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spaceship, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
The spaceship lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
It will dock with China's indigenous Tiangong space station where three Chinese astronauts continue space exploration.
This came after the Shenzhou-21 spaceship brought home three Chinese astronauts last week, nine days behind schedule after their spacecraft was hit by suspected space debris.
On Nov. 5, the China Manned Space Agency said that the crew’s journey home had been delayed following a likely impact on Shenzhou-20 from tiny orbital debris and that it "does not meet the requirements for the astronauts' safe return” and would instead remain in orbit.
The Shenzhou-21, China's sixth crewed flight mission with three astronauts, locally known as taikonauts, including its youngest-ever astronaut, plus four mice, were launched into space last month.
The mice returned with the crew of the Shenzhou-20 spaceship last week.