A Long March 7 carrier rocket was launched on Jan 17, sending a Tianzhou 7 cargo craft into space.
A Long March 7 carrier rocket carrying the Tianzhou 7 cargo craft is launched on Jan 17. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The spaceship carries daily supplies for the astronauts, nearly 100 kilograms of fresh vegetables and several items of scientific apparatus, as well as repairing and maintenance tools and related consumables.
The cargo ship docked with the space station's Tianhe core module on Jan 18 and completed status setup.
The Long March 7 carrier rocket is about 53.1 meters long and has a 4.2-meter diameter fairing. With a launch weight of about 600 metric tons, the rocket has a carrying capacity of about 14 tons in the low-Earth orbit.
A simulated image of the Tianzhou 7 cargo ship [Photo/China Academy of Space Technology]
It is a new-generation zero-poison and zero-pollution medium-sized carrier rocket specially developed to meet cargo ship launch missions for China’s space station program. It has conducted seven Tianzhou cargo ship launch missions since its maiden flight in 2016.
The launch on Jan 17 was the 507th flight of the Long March series.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
