Tianzhou – 8 Cargo Spacecraft Launches To Space Station
The Tianzhou-8 robotic cargo ship was launched from Hainan province on Friday night, becoming the latest spacecraft to visit China’s Tiangong space station this year.
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Administration, the Long March-7 carrier rocket lifted off from the launch service tower at the Wenchang Space Launch Center at 11:13 p.m. local time on top of the cargo ship.
After a short flight, the Tianzhou-8 rocket entered its intended low-Earth orbit, and the cargo ship’s solar wings were deployed, marking the successful completion of the launch mission.
The spacecraft is scheduled to approach and dock with the Tianhe core module of the space station within three hours of launch.
The Tianzhou-8 spacecraft is the 15th to visit the Tiangong. Its mission is to refuel the Chinese space station and provide living and working supplies for the 19th batch of Shenzhou astronauts, who will stay in orbit for two weeks.
According to designers at the China Academy of Space Technology, the materials inside the cargo ship are enough to accommodate three crew members for nine months.
Tianzhou-7, the predecessor of Tianzhou-8, separated from the Tiangong space station on Sunday and began a period of solo flight.
According to the space agency, it plans to return to Earth soon. Most of the spacecraft will burn up during reentry, although a small amount of debris is expected to fall to safety in the South Pacific.
Orbiting the Earth at about 400 kilometers, Tiangong consists of three permanent sections (a core module and two science modules) and regularly communicates with several visiting astronauts and cargo spacecraft.
