China’s cargo spacecraft carries record cargo to Tiangong space station

China launched the uncrewed cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-9 in the early morning of Tuesday (July 15) to deliver supplies for its orbiting Tiangong space station and docked at the rear docking port of Tianhe, the core module of China's space station Tiangong.

According to the evening update from the China Manned Space Agency, China's Shenzhou-20 crew, aboard the orbiting Tiangong space station, has opened the hatch of Tianzhou-9 and entered the cargo craft.

“The crew will proceed with cargo transfer and related tasks as scheduled,” the update reads.

The Long March-7 Y10 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-9, blasted off at 5:34 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan.

Tianzhou-9, measuring 10.6 meters in length and 3.35 meters at its maximum diameter, is tasked with delivering supplies to the crews of the Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 missions.

It is loaded with essential supplies, totalling 6.5 tonnes, including consumables for the orbiting crew, propellant, and equipment for application experiments and tests. This is the largest amount of cargo since Tianzhou-6.

Two new sets of independently developed extravehicular spacesuits are onboard the craft. Their design lifespan has been significantly increased from 15 extravehicular activities (EVAs) within three years to 20 EVAs within four years.

Among the supplies carried by the Tianzhou-9 cargo craft is a new core muscle exercise device, helping astronauts avoid muscle atrophy in the microgravity environment of space.

A brain organoid chip is also onboard the Tianzhou-9 cargo craft. It is capable of simulating the complex microenvironment and functions of the human brain.

The relay terminal onboard Tianzhou-9 can autonomously acquire and track the Tianlian relay satellites, establishing a communication link from the cargo craft to the relay satellites and then to the ground, ensuring real-time bidirectional information transmission.

Tuesday's mission is the fourth cargo resupply flight of China's manned space program since the space station entered the application and development phase. It is also the 584th mission of the Long March rocket series.

The Long March-7 rocket, with a total length of 53.1 meters and a diameter of 3.35 meters, is a new-generation medium-lift launch vehicle in China, characterized by its high reliability, high safety, and environmentally friendly design. The rocket has a low-Earth orbit payload capacity of up to 14 tonnes.