Photo:Guo Zhongzheng

 

Photo:Guo Zhongzheng

The Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft detaches from the Tianhe space station core module combination and moves to the mooring point 19 meters away from the Tianhe on March 27, 2022. Photo: Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center

After accomplishing all of its missions, China's Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft detached from the country's space station combination on Sunday at about 4 pm and will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere under orders from ground control at a later date, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Sunday. 

Tianzhou-2 was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province on May 29, 2021, the first cargo supply craft launched at the key technology verification stage for the construction of China's space station.

During its orbital phase with the space station combination, it carried out expansion experiments, the CMSA said in a statement it provided to the Global Times on Sunday. 

Tianzhou-2 is in good condition, the CMSA said. 

There were 6.8 tons of supplies onboard the Tianzhou-2, including some 160 parcels of goods and two tons of propellants, the Global Times learned from the craft's developer China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) in May 2021. 

The waste generated in the space station is being stored in the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft. After completing its mission and separating from the space station, the cargo spacecraft will not directly return to the ground, but will instead return to a predetermined sea area along with the waste, enter the atmosphere, and then get burned off, Yang Hong, chief designer of China's space station, told the media previously.

Tianzhou-2's predecessor - China's first resupply craft for the country's Tiangong-2 space lab mission - detached from the lab on June 21, 2017. After two braking maneuvers under the precise control and close monitoring of ground controllers, it plunged into the Earth's atmosphere and burned up on September 22, 2017.

China plans to complete construction of its first space station this year, and the Tianzhou-4 cargo spaceship, the Shenzhou-14 manned craft, two experimental modules, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spaceship, and the Shenzhou-15 manned craft will be rolled out in sequence, according to mission plans.