The combination of the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and the Long March-7 Y3 carrier rocket is transferred to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on May 16, 2021 in south China's Hainan Province. (Photo by Guo Wenbin/Xinhua)
WENCHANG, Hainan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China launched the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2 on Saturday, which is scheduled to dock with the space station core module Tianhe to deliver supplies, equipment and propellant.
The Long March-7 Y3 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-2, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
China launched its space station core module Tianhe on April 29. The country plans to complete the verification of key technologies and the in-orbit construction of the space station through multiple launches within two years.
Saturday's launch was the first time that the space station cargo transportation system, composed of the Tianzhou spacecraft and Long March-7 rockets, was put into use.
Measuring 10.6 meters in length and with a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters, the Tianzhou-2 cargo ship has a maximum takeoff weight of 13.5 tonnes and carries 6.8 tonnes of goods and materials.
More than 160 large and small packages, including supplies for astronauts and space science equipment, and two tonnes of propellant have been loaded into the cargo freighter, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
Lei Jianyu, a designer of Tianzhou-2 at the CAST, said that only two types of cargo spaceships currently in service globally have the maximum carrying capacity of more than 5 tonnes. "China's Tianzhou is one of them, and is at the world-leading level." ■
