China launches unmanned spacecraft with supplies for under-construction space station
China on Monday launched a second unmanned cargo spacecraft, which can join the core module of the country’s under-construction space platform carrying supplies for future missions, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
The robotic Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft was launched at 3pm (China time) on an extended March 7 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan province. “China launched cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-3 on Monday to deliver supplies for its under-construction space platform ,” the official press agency Xinhua said, quoting CMSA.
The Tianzhou-3 is carrying supplies including water and propellant to sustain missions within the future and can dock with China’s Tianhe space platform , which is predicted to become operational in 2022. The Tianzhou-3 mission is that the fourth of 11 missions designed to create China’s space platform , Tiangong or “Heavenly Palace”.
The combination of the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and an extended March-7 Y4 carrier rocket was transferred to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site last week. “On September 18, Tianzhou-2, the predecessor of Tianzhou-3, separated with the space station’s core module, conducted a fly-around and docked with the space platform core module’s front-facing port,” China’s official English broadcaster, CGTN said during a report on Monday.
Monday’s launch comes days after China concluded its Shenzhou-12 manned mission on Citizenship Day with three Chinese astronauts returning to Earth after completing their three-month mission including two spacewalks and setting the Chinese record for the longest crewed spaceflight mission. On June 17, China had launched the Shenzhou-12 mission carrying three astronauts to remain at an under-construction space platform .
The return capsule of the Shenzhou-12 spaceship, carrying astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Its successor, the Shenzhou-13 spaceship will carry another three astronauts to the space platform , who will stay six months in orbit, the CMSA had said. Tianzhou-3 is carrying the supplies for the crew of Shenzhou-13, which is scheduled to be launched in October.
In late April, China had sent to space Tianhe, the management and control hub of Tiangong, the permanent space platform , which it plans to finish by 2022 as a part of its ambitious space programme.
Once built, China’s space platform , Tiangong or “Heavenly Palace, are going to be the sole alternative to the two-decade-old, US-led International space platform (ISS), which can be retired in 2024, Reuters press agency had reported earlier.
The ISS – from which China is excluded – comprises Canada, Japan, the Russia , the US, and 11 member states of the ecu Space Agency.
