China’s Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is a derived version of the Tiangong space laboratory and delivers goods & fuel to China’s space outposts.
Facts
- Name: TianZhou (天舟) is Chinese for Heavenly Ship
- Length: 10.6 m
- Diameter: 3.35 m (living & goods compartment)
- Weight: 6.41 t (empty) / 12.91 t (with goods & equipment)
- Docking port: One
- Energy supply: Two 3-segment solar arrays
- Expected life time: around 6 months
- Launch vehicle: Long March 7
- Flight profile: Inclination 41° / 350 km circular orbit
Mission overview
| Mission name | Launch date (UTC) | Reentry | Mission description |
| Tianzhou-1 | 20th April 2017 | 22nd September 2017 | Tianzhou 1 was the first flight of a Tianzhou spacecraft and it performed multiple autonomous docking maneuver with the Tiangong-2 space laboratory. |
| Tianzhou-2 | 29th May 2021 | 31st March 2022 | This was the first service mission to China’s Space Station. It docked with the core module Tianhe on the aft side. On 18th September the spacecraft moved to the front docking port of Tianhe. |
| Tianzhou-3 | 20th September 2021 | 27th July 2022 | This is the second supply mission to China’s Space Station. It made a fast rendezvous with the space station in just under 8 hours. Docking occured at the aft port of the Tianhe module. On 20th April 2022 Tianzhou-3 was moved to the forward port. |
| Tianzhou-4 | 9th May 2022 | 14th November 2022 | The Tianzhou-4 is China’s third supply mission to China’s Space Station Tiangong. The spacecraft made a fast rendezvous with the space station in just under 6 hours. The docking occured at the aft port of the Tianhe module. The cargo ship was undocked at 9th November 2022. |
| Tianzhou-5 | 12th November 2022 | 12th September 2023 | The Tianzhou-5 is China’s fourth supply mission to China’s Space Station Tiangong. It brought food, fuel and equipment to the space station to support the Shenzhou-15 mission. The time between liftoff and docking of Tianzhou-5 was just 2 hours 7 minutes. It is a world record for launching and docking a spacecraft with a space station. |
| Tianzhou-6 | 10th May 2023 | 19th January 2024 | |
| Tianzhou-7 | 17th January 2024 | November 2024 (planned) |