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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
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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.
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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.
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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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