Tianzhou (spacecraft)


The Tianzhou is a Chinese automated cargo spacecraft developed from China's first prototype space station Tiangong-1 to resupply its future modular space station. It was first launched on the Long March 7 rocket from Wenchang on April 20, 2017 and demonstrated autonomous propellant transfer.
The first version of Tianzhou has a mass of 12,910 kg and can carry 6,500 kg of cargo.

Function

Based on the Tiangong-1 space station, it is planned that the Tianzhou will function as the main automated cargo spacecraft for the Chinese space station. It will have pressurized, semi-pressurized and unpressurized cargo capabilities, and will be able to transport airtight cargo, large extravehicular payloads and experiment platforms. It was first launched on the new Long March 7 rocket from Wenchang on April 20, 2017.

Name

The China Manned Space Engineering Office opened a consultation for the naming of the prospective cargo ship on April 25, 2011. By May 20, it had received more than 50,000 suggestions. On July 8 Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed that they had a short list of ten names. On October 31, 2013, it was revealed that they spacecraft had been named Tianzhou, a combining the Chinese names of the Tiangong space stations and the Shenzhou spacecraft. They also stated that they would use the two letter identification TZ.

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