IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Beijing

Cargo spacecraft leaves Tiangong

China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 1, separated from the Tiangong 2 space lab at 4:15 pm on Sunday. Separation began at 3:29 pm under orders from controllers on the ground. After separation, the craft assumed an orbit about 400 kilometers above the earth. Tianzhou 1 will continue to carry out experiments before it leaves orbit, and will gain experience for building and operating a manned space station. Tianzhou 1 was launched on April 20 from Hainan province, and it docked automatically with the orbiting Tiangong 2 space lab on April 22. The two craft completed their first in-orbit refueling on April 27 and their second on June 15.