Tianzhou-7 docks with orbiting space station
CHINA’S cargo craft Tianzhou-7 completed its status setting and docked with the orbiting Tiangong space station yesterday, the China Manned Space Agency said.
At 1:46am, Tianzhou-7 docked at the rear docking port of the Tianhe core module, it said, adding the Shenzhou-17 crew onboard the space station will enter the cargo craft and transfer the payloads as scheduled.
The Long March-7 Y8 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-7, blasted off at 10:27pm from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern Hainan Province, the CMSA said.
Wednesday’s launch was the first mission of China’s manned space project this year. It was also the 507th mission of the Long March rocket series.
The mission was the sixth flight of the space station cargo delivery system consisting of the Tianzhou cargo craft and the Long March-7 carrier rocket.
Tianzhou-7 carries more than 260 items of supplies, including those for the astronaut system, space station system, application tasks, and cargo spacecraft system, as well as other engineering goods, featuring a variety of cargo and large-sized items. The total weight of onboard materials hit about 5.6 tons.
Customized cargo packages for experiment payloads and other large-scale goods, each weighing over 100 kilograms, will be applied in the operation of the space station, experiments, and astronaut life support.
Tianzhou-7 also sent 2,400kg of living supplies for the astronauts, including Lunar New Year goods and fresh fruits and vegetables. The packaging design was optimized to ensure longer storage time and freshness.
The application system has loaded Tianzhou-7 with a total of 61 items weighing 473kg, including experiment payloads, units and samples, consumable items, and spare parts, to support space experiments, according to Liu Wei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization.
China plans to launch the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft from Wenchang this year.
(Xinhua)