Cargo ship docks with orbiting space lab
Print Edition
THE Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft successfully completed automated docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab at 12:23pm on Saturday, according to Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
It was the first docking between the spacecraft and space lab.
Tianzhou-1, China’s first cargo spacecraft, which was launched last Thursday evening from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province, began to approach Tiangong-2 automatically at 10:02am on Saturday and made contact with the space lab at 12:16pm.
The Tianzhou-1 cargo ship and Tiangong-2 space lab will complete another two docking procedures.
The second will be conducted from a different direction, to test the ability of the cargo ship to dock with a future space station from different directions.
In the third, Tianzhou-1 will use fast-docking technology. It normally takes about two days to dock, while fast docking will take just six hours.
Refueling will also be conducted, a process with 29 steps that takes several days.
Tiangong-2, which went into space on September 15, 2016, is China’s first space lab “in the strict sense” and a key step in building a permanent space station. Cargo ships play a crucial role maintaining a space station and carrying supplies and fuel into orbit.
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