A perfect ending! Goodbye, Tianzhou-3

The Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere in a controlled manner at 11:31 Beijing time on July 27. Most of the spacecraft's components have been ablated and destroyed, with a small amount of debris falling into the designated safe waters in the South Pacific.

The Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft was launched into orbit on September 20, 2021, delivering about 6 tons of supplies to the space station, including astronaut living supplies, extravehicular space suits and extravehicular consumables, space station platform supplies, some scientific experiment payloads and propellants. During its in-orbit operation, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft conducted two rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe core module assembly and conducted a flyby test. After separating from the Tianhe core module assembly, it also carried out space technology tests, accumulating important experience for the in-orbit construction and operation management of the space station.

At present, the Tianhe core module, Wentian laboratory module, manned spacecraft, cargo spacecraft, relay satellite, etc. used in my country's space station project are all developed and manufactured by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Let’s review the perfect performance of Tianzhou-3!

Launch into orbit

On September 20, 2021, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft successfully entered orbit at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in China, delivering about 6 tons of supplies to the space station. Tianzhou-3 also has the ability to connect to the grid and provide power support to the space station during its docking.

Rendezvous and docking

About 6.5 hours after the successful launch, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and the space station assembly completed autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking, which was another successful practice of the full-phase and fully autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking technology.

Fly-around test

On April 20, 2022, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft separated from the rear port of the Tianhe core module of the space station, flew around to the forward port, and completed automatic rendezvous and docking.

Evacuate the station complex

On July 17, 2022, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft completed all its assigned missions and evacuated the space station complex.

Re-entry

On July 27, 2022, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere in a controlled manner.

Tianzhou-3

Welcome back to Earth!

(China Manned Space Engineering Office)