Tianzhou 6 sets off for space station

The first spacecraft to visit China's Tiangong space station this year — the Tianzhou 6 robotic cargo ship — was launched on Wednesday night to transport materials for the next manned missions.

With the Tianzhou 6 atop, the Long March 7-Y7 carrier rocket blasted off at 9:22 pm at the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in the country's southernmost island province of Hainan.

After a short flight, the rocket will place Tianzhou 6 into a low-Earth orbit. The three-story cargo ship will then travel a couple of hours to rendezvous with the Tiangong station and then dock with the massive outpost.

The cargo vehicle is the ninth vessel to visit the station and the first to do so since the station was completed at the end of 2022.

Tianzhou 6 is carrying about 260 packages with a combined weight of nearly 5.8 metric tons, including supplies to sustain the three-member crew for 280 days. In the food packages, there are about 70 kilograms of fresh fruits, double those carried by the Tianzhou 5.

There are 98 packages of scientific equipment, which weigh 714 kikograms and also include spare parts and experimental materials. The payloads will be used in 29 scientific experiments and tests in fields such as life science, biology, fluid physics in microgravity as well as combustion and material sciences.

With a designed life of more than a year, a Tianzhou cargo craft has two parts, a cargo cabin and a propulsion section. The vehicles are 10.6 meters long and 3.35 meters wide.

It is the world's best space cargo transporter when it comes to carrying capacity — more than half of its 13.5-ton lift-off weight can be used for payloads, according to designers.Tiangong's current inhabitants — the three members of the Shenzhou XV mission — arrived at the station on Nov 30 to take charge of the massive orbital outpost from the three Shenzhou XIV astronauts.

At present, the Shenzhou XV astronauts — mission commander Major General Fei Junlong, Senior Colonel Deng Qingming and Senior Colonel Zhang Lu — have conducted four spacewalks to mount equipment required for extravehicular scientific experiments and technological demonstrations.