May 30, 2021

China's Tianhe space station core cabin received its first "visiting guest" - the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft early Sunday, about 8 hours after the latter's launch, setting a new record in China's space history.

According to the China Manned Space Agency, the rendezvous and docking of the Tianzhou [Heavenly Vessel] cargo spacecraft with the Tianhe core cabin took around eight hours after the former was launched from Wenchang spaceport from South China's Hainan Province via a Long March 7 carrier rocket at 8:55 pm Saturday. 

The first spaceship launched in the space station construction phase, Tianzhou-2 weighed 13.5 tons at launch, and is capable of sending a payload of 6.9 tons for supply missions. Its in-orbit service is at least one year, said Feng Yong, commander-in-chief of the Tianzhou-2 mission from the project contractor China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

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