Lift-off for Tianzhou 3, China’s space station resupply mission

The cargo ship was successfully launched from Hainan province days after the space station’s first crew returned home

Three astronauts are expected to blast off early next month for a six-month mission

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The Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft blasts off from the Wenchang launch site on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:11pm, 20 Sep 2021Updated: 10:57pm, 20 Sep 2021

China launched a cargo spaceship on Monday to deliver supplies to its Tiangong space station and prepare for a second crewed mission planned for next month.

The Tianzhou 3 lifted off aboard a Long March 7 Y4 rocket at 3.10pm from Hainan’s Wenchang spacecraft launch centre in southern China, just three days after the first astronauts to crew the space station returned to Earth.

The Tianzhou 3 entered orbit within 10 minutes of lift-off and began opening its solar panels after 15 minutes, prompting the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) to declare the launch a success.

The CMSA said Tianzhou 3 successfully docked with the space station as planned at 10.08pm.

A source at the launch site said it was the first time the centre had used an automatic launch system.

“Once we are in the launch window, the launch system automatically starts to count down. The system will ignite the rocket at the end of count down. There are no big red buttons to be pressed,” the source said. “It minimises human error.”

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