BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2021) The launch of the Chinese Tianzhou-3 cargo mission to the Tianhe core module of China's Tiangong orbital station is scheduled for Monday, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
"The Chang Zheng 7 (Long March 7) carrier rocket has been refueled, the launch of the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft is planned for September 20, at around 15:00 Beijing time (07:00 GMT)," the agency said in a statement.
The Tianzhou-3 cargo mission will be launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center on Hainan Island.
The cargo spacecraft will bring equipment, fuel and food to China's orbital station, in preparation for the arrival of a group of astronauts in October.
China launched the Long March 5B carrier rocket with the main module (Tianhe, or "Harmony of the Heavens") for China's future orbital station at the end of April. Tianhe will be the control hub for the Tiangong (or "Heavenly Palace") orbital station.
China expects to finish assembling its first space station in lower Earth orbit by 2022. The country has planned several missions, both cargo ship and crewed ones, across 2021 and 2022 to complete the complex.
Earlier this month, China's Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft successfully landed in the country's autonomous Inner Mongolia region, bringing three astronauts back to Earth. The Shenzhou-12 crew was the first on the Chinese orbital station, and they went into outer space twice during the three months spent on Tiangong.
