Tianzhou spacecraft launches, heads to space station

Hao Chun, director of the manned space agency, said previously that the Shenzhou XII spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, will launch and dock with the core module early next month. The crew will stay in the module for three months.

Tianzhou 2's launch was originally scheduled for the early morning of May 20, but mission commanders decided to postpone the launch shortly before the predetermined ignition time because a technical problem on the rocket was detected.

Over the past 10 days, engineers and technicians from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which designed and built the rocket, raced against time to pinpoint and solve the problem, according to the academy.

A Tianzhou cargo spaceship consists of two parts – a cargo cabin and a propulsion section. Such vehicle is 10.6 meters long and has a diameter of 3.35 meters. With a liftoff weight of 13.5 metric tons, the craft is able to transport up to 6.9 metric tons of supplies to space station, according to Bai Mingsheng, Tianzhou's chief designer at the China Academy of Space Technology.

With a designed life of more than 1 year, Tianzhou 2, the country's second cargo spaceship, is carrying 6.8 tons of cargo including 2 tons of propellants, more than 160 packages of living and experiment materials and two 100-some-kilogram extravehicular suits for astronauts to perform activities outside the core module.

The living materials will be used by the three astronauts from Shenzhou XII during their 3-month stay inside the Tianhe module.

During its linkup with Tianhe, the cargo ship will also hold scientific experiments and technology demonstration operations, according to Bai.

The designer said that when Tianzhou 2 departs from Tianhe, it will carry wastes from the module and burn up during the atmospheric reentry.

Hao from the manned space agency said the Tianzhou 3 cargo ship will be launched in September to dock with the core module. The next month, another three-astronaut team will fly to the module on Shenzhou XIII to stay there for six months.

Two large space labs will be launched next year to connect with the module. 2022 will also see two manned missions and two robotic cargo flights to continue construction of the space station, which is scheduled to be completed around the end of next year.