41 space science experiments, freezing samples in orbit, returning them to Earth and parallel analysis with ground-based control groups

This is according to a statement from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (May 14, 2026).

Samples of “artificial embryos” and other biological experiment materials delivered by the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft have been installed in experimental modules aboard China’s Tiangong space station.

“Artificial embryos” are artificial human embryos derived from stem cells. They are not actual living creatures. They cannot develop into human babies. But they will help scientists simulate the earliest stages of human development.

After the experiments are completed, the artificial embryo samples will be frozen in orbit. They will then be returned to Earth during a future mission. There, they will be analyzed in parallel with ground-based control samples in laboratories on Earth.

This work is part of a broader suite of 41 space science experiments deployed aboard Tiangong, all supporting the final stage of research on the orbital laboratory.

China launched the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Monday morning. Tianzhou-10 is expected to remain docked in orbit for one year. Since the Tianzhou series cargo spacecraft entered operation, their mission durations have increased from approximately six months to nine or ten months.

This mission is the fifth cargo delivery flight under China’s manned space program since the space station’s development and implementation phase began. It is also the 641st mission of the Long March rocket series.

Aboard the space station now sits something that was never meant to be born. Artificial embryos. Not alive. But almost. They will freeze in a vacuum so that scientists on Earth can understand how we begin to breathe. China’s Tiangong station has become not just a laboratory. It has become an archive of the very beginning. There, where gravity does not exist, the mystery of conception does. When these samples return to Earth, science will take one more step toward the answer. But the main question will remain: does humanity have the right to create what could have become human? For now, the answer is frozen. Together with the embryos.