China sends up cargo to space station to resupply for next manned mission

Rocket lifts off from Hainan with essentials for next 3 astronauts destined for Tiangong
The next crew will stay aloft for 6 months as the country seeks to become a space power

Science

Josephine Maanddpa

Published: 7:30pm, 12 Nov 2022

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China launched a cargo spacecraft with supplies for its new space station on Saturday, helping to prepare the way for another manned space mission later this year.

A Long March 7 rocket carrying the cargo ship Tianzhou 5 lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport in the southern province of Hainan at 10.03am, docking with the recently completed Tiangong space station two hours later, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The cargo flight is part of preparations for a historic crew change in space later this year.

China is planning to send three more astronauts to the space station, crossing over with the three already there – Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe.

Pan Weizhen, a designer of the cargo craft system from the China Academy of Space Technology, said the cargo vessel was carrying 1.4 tonnes of propellant for the space station complex and around 5 tonnes of supplies, including essentials for the three astronauts on the upcoming six-month Shenzhou 15 mission, the report said.

It was also carrying equipment for future experiments, including a satellite, a space hydrogen and oxygen fuel cell system, and particle detection equipment.

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China launches Mengtian, final module to complete Tiangong space station

China launched the space lab module Mengtian on October 31, taking construction of the country’s space station into the final stage, Xinhua reported.

It plans to launch another manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou 15, later this year. The Shenzhou 14 and Shenzhou 15 crew members will conduct the first in-orbit crew rotation in China’s space history.

The current crew is scheduled to return to Earth in December. Tianzhou 5 is the tenth mission to build and supply the space station.

The Tiangong space station is part of China’s ambitions to become a space power and to catch up with the major space nations, the United States and Russia.