24/7 Space News
DRAGON SPACE
Rocket that will carry Tianzhou ship to space arrives at launch center
illustration only
ADVERTISEMENT
     
Rocket that will carry Tianzhou ship to space arrives at launch center
by Staff Writers
Beijing (XNA) Apr 18, 2023

The Long March 7 carrier rocket tasked with lifting the Tianzhou 6 cargo spaceship has recently been transported to the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, according to China Manned Space Agency.

The agency said on Monday the rocket arrived at the Wenchang facility on Thursday and will undergo prelaunch checks with the cargo ship in coming days.

Tianzhou 6 is scheduled to dock with the country's Tiangong space station early next month to deliver propellants, science payloads and necessities for the astronauts, according to mission plans previously published.

Before its arrival, the Tianzhou 5 will depart the station to leave the docking hatch open for Tianzhou 6 and then burn itself up during its descent toward Earth.

Pang Zhihao, an expert on space exploration, said compared with its predecessors the Tianzhou 6 will carry more equipment and materials for scientific experiments and technological demonstrations.

"The Tiangong space station began formal operations at the start of this year so astronauts are spending more time on science and technology tasks. Now a large proportion of their time will be used to install and fine-tune scientific and technological apparatuses, and carry out experiments and tests," he said.

"As the bioregenerative life-support system inside the Tiangong has been fully tested and proved functional, Tianzhou ships will no longer need to carry many living necessities and the space and weight saved can be used to transport more mission payloads."

Designed to function for more than a year, a Tianzhou cargo spaceship has two parts - a cargo cabin and a propulsion section. The vehicles are 10.6 meters long and 3.35 meters wide.

The cargo craft has a liftoff weight of 13.5 metric tons and can transport up to 6.9 tons of supplies to the space station.

The current crew inside the Tiangong - the three members of the Shenzhou XV mission - arrived at the station on Nov 30. Their six-month journey is scheduled to conclude around the end of May, and then the Shenzhou XVI crew will take over.

Orbiting Earth about 400 kilometers above the ground, Tiangong currently consists of three major components - a core module and two science lab modules - and is connected with two visiting craft - the Shenzhou XV crew ship and the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Related Links
China Manned Space Agency
The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DRAGON SPACE
China's space station achieves 100 pct regeneration of oxygen resources
Beijing (XNA) Apr 16, 2023
China's space station, with the Shenzhou-15 crew now in orbit, can produce 100 percent of its oxygen supply through its onboard regeneration system, according to a space technology conference in Harbin, capital of China's northernmost Heilongjiang Province. The development reflects that fundamental transformation of the environmental control and life-support system for China's manned spacecraft from "replenishment" to "regeneration," said Bian Qiang, director of the environmental control and life- ... read more

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
DRAGON SPACE
Russian cosmonauts take spacewalk outside of ISS

Space seeds take root in Inner Mongolia

Calnetix Technologies' high-speed blower system installed on ISS

Rocket Lab launches new constellation-class star tracker

DRAGON SPACE
Rocket Lab introduces suborbital testbed rocket, selected for hypersonic test flights

Elon Musk forms X.AI artificial intelligence company

SpaceX reschedules Starship test flight for Thursday

Southern Launch to partner with Koonibba aboriginal community to develop spaceport

DRAGON SPACE
Clouds Above, Contact Science Below: Sols 3800-3802

Hey Percy, look at those boulders

Curiosity gets a major software upgrade

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completes 50th flight

DRAGON SPACE
China, France join hands in space

Shenzhou XV mission crew members set China record

Spacewalks become 'routine' after 12th mission

Rocket that will carry Tianzhou ship to space arrives at launch center

DRAGON SPACE
Viasat confirms ViaSat-3 Americas set to launch

Virgin Orbit bankruptcy: why the UK's spaceport industry may still have a bright future

Nova Space to offer Space Professional Development Program for AWS Employees

HawkEye 360's latest Cluster 7 satellites successfully launched

DRAGON SPACE
NASA satellite's elusive green lasers spotted at work

General Atomics completes commissioning of space environmental testing chambers

SwRI joins new NASA institute to qualify, certify additive manufacturing methods

Viasat real-time Earth antennas integrated on Microsoft Azure Orbital

DRAGON SPACE
International team discover new exoplanet partly using direct imaging

Webb peeks into the birthplaces of exoplanets

HD 169142 b, the third protoplanet confirmed to date

Do Earth-like exoplanets have magnetic fields

DRAGON SPACE
Icy Moonquakes: Surface Shaking Could Trigger Landslides

Europe's Jupiter probe launched

Europe's JUICE mission blasts off towards Jupiter's icy moons

Spotlight on Ganymede, Juice's primary target

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters


ADVERTISEMENT



The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2023 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.