China Kicks off Construction of Its Space Station

China launched a Long March 7 carrier rocket on May 10 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan Province, sending supplies aboard the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft to the space station.

The launch marked the beginning of the construction of the country's space station.

A Long March 7 carrier rocket, sending supplies for the space station aboard the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft, is launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province on May 10. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

The first spacecraft sent on a mission during China's space station construction period, the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft was generally developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It will carry supplies for space station assembly and construction, material science experiments and medical tests etc., to the station crew.

A view of the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft in the workshop [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Developed by CASC's China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Long March 7 carrier rocket is China's new generation medium-sized launch vehicle and is able to send 14 metric tons of payloads into low-Earth orbit where it can rendezvous and dock with the space station.

A view of the Long March 7 carrier rocket in the workshop [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

The launch on May 10 was the 420th mission of the Long March rocket series.

Plans this year are for China to carry out five launches, sending two manned spacecraft, two space station experiment modules and one cargo spacecraft into space to complete the in-orbit construction of the space station.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)