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Derek Richardson
Could eleventh, 2023
China’s Tiangong house station acquired a contemporary supply of provides with the launch and arrival of the Tianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft.
Liftoff occurred atop a Lengthy March 7 rocket at 9:22 a.m. EDT (13:22 UTC) Could 10, 2023, from the Wenchang Satellite tv for pc Launch Heart in China. The autonomous cargo spacecraft docked with the aft port of the Chinese language outpost roughly eight hours later.
This was the fifth resupply spacecraft to dock to Tiangong because it was launched in 2021. Based on Chinese language state media, Tianzhou 6 was upgraded to extend its payload capability by 20% to hold as much as 16,300 kilos (7.4 metric tons) — probably the most for any at the moment lively cargo vessel servicing house stations.
Based on the China Academy of House Expertise, the elevated capability will permit for fewer Tianzhou cargo ships, every almost the dimensions of a faculty bus, to be launched. As an alternative of two per 12 months, solely three each two years shall be wanted to help the three-person Tiangong house station.
For Tianzhou 6 specifically, it has aboard 3,860 kilos (1,750 kilograms) of gas, 1,540 kilos (700 kilograms) of which shall be used to refuel the outpost itself.
The remainder of its capability incorporates pressurized cargo and science experiments for the Shenzhou 15 and 16 crew, the latter of which is predicted to fly to the outpost later this month.
At the moment aboard Tiangong are Chinese language astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. They launched to the outpost within the Shenzhou 15 in November 2022 and are anticipated to get replaced later this month by the Shenzhou 16 crew, which has but to be publicly introduced.
Every three individual crew is scheduled for six-month rotations aboard the orbiting laboratory, just like these dwelling on the Worldwide House Station.
Shenzhou 16 will dock with Tiangong’s Earth-facing port. After a quick handover interval, the Shenzhou 15 trio will depart, leaving the ahead port accessible for Tianzhou 5 cargo ship, which lately undocked from the aft port of the station to make means for the brand new cargo ship.
Tianzhou 5 had been on the outpost since mid-November 2022 and has been flying independently since Could 5, 2023.
As soon as Tianzhou 5 redocks with Tiangong, it’ll stay for a at the moment undisclosed length earlier than leaving for a ultimate time with trash and different unneeded tools sure for a harmful reentry into Earth’s ambiance.
Video courtesy of CCTV
Derek Richardson
Derek Richardson has a level in mass media, with an emphasis in up to date journalism, from Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. Whereas at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the scholar run newspaper, the Washburn Assessment. He additionally has a web site about human spaceflight referred to as Orbital Velocity. Yow will discover him on twitter @TheSpaceWriter.
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