China's first cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou-1 had accomplished docking. The cargo spacecraft docked with an orbiting space lab last Saturday.
Phys.org reported a successful activity performed by China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1. The Tianzhou-1 had managed to dock with an orbiting space lab, the Tiangong-2 last Saturday.
The Tianzhou-1 was launched into space from the Wenchang Space Launch Center located in Hainan province last Thursday eve. It took the China's first cargo spacecraft and almost two days before it began to approach the Tiangong-2 space lab.
According to RT, the docking is the first automatic procedure in China's fast-paced exploration program. That is why, it was really a first-time success when the China's first cargo, Tianzhou-1 completed the docking procedure at 12:23 pm on Saturday.
The China's first cargo spacecraft will bring supplies as well as fuel into orbit. Tianzhou-1 is a tube-like cargo spacecraft which measures 10.6 meters and has the capacity of over six tons of cargo and satellites. The China's first cargo spacecraft was independently developed by the China on its goal to have the country's self-crewed space station by the year 2022.
The successful docking of the China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1 into the Tiangong-2 is then a very crucial step for China. It is because the Tianggong-2 has two Chinese space explorers that are currently on a month-long mission since October last year.
Aside from bringing supplies and fuel, the China's first cargo spacecraft will also conduct further experiments in space. Its subjects include the non-Newtonian gravitation, so it will dock about two or more times before the Tianzhou-1 gets back to Earth.
To recall, China is on its separate space exploration program from US and Russia which is excluded from the International Space Station. As a Communist nation, China believes that it's a symbol of rising to fund a multi-billion space program like sending the Tianggong-2 and the China's first cargo spacecraft. Even though the US Congress banned the Chinese astronauts from the ISS for national security concerns, China finds a way through the Tiangong-2.
