Beijing. 9th May. INTERFAX - The Chinese cargo spacecraft "Tianzhou-4" with supplies and equipment on board launched to the National Orbital Station of the People's Republic of China "Tiangong", follows from the broadcast, which is conducted by China Central Television (CCTV).
The Changzheng-7 launch vehicle launched from the Wenchang Cosmodrome, located on Hainan Island in the South China Sea, at 20:56 Moscow Time.
According to the developers, the Tianzhou-4 is capable of delivering fuel, supplies, various sealed cargo, a large payload for extravehicular activity, as well as platforms for conducting experiments to the station. The total mass of the possible payload that the device can deliver to the station is about 6.8 tons.
Also, according to a representative of the Chinese Aerospace Scientific and Industrial Corporation (CASIC) According to Yana Yuguan, equipment will be delivered to the station for the commissioning of two laboratory modules "Wentian" and "Mentian", which will be docked to it in the future.
At the moment there is no active crew at the station. Three taikonauts of the previous mission of the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft left Tiangong in April, having worked at the station for a total of six months.
The arrival of the next crew, who will also spend six months at the station, on the Shenzhou-14 ship is scheduled for June this year.
It is expected that by the planned completion date of the station (the end of 2022), another cargo ship, the Tianzhou-5, will visit it.
The creation of a full-fledged orbital station should be completed in 2022. Six more launches are planned for the base module. In particular, it is supposed to dock two laboratory modules - "Wentian" and "Mentian".
The total weight of the Tiangong station, which will be located at an altitude of 400 km, after completion of its construction will be about 90 tons. It will be five times smaller than the International Space Station and will be able to receive three crew members on a permanent basis (and up to six when changing crews). The service life of the Chinese space station is about 10 years.
