Mission accomplished! Goodbye, Tianzhou-5!

At 9:13 a.m. Beijing time on September 12, 2023, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, which had successfully completed its mission, re-entered the atmosphere in a controlled manner. Most of the cargo spacecraft's components were burned and destroyed during the re-entry process, and a small amount of debris fell into the designated safe waters in the South Pacific.

Schematic diagram of the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

The first Earth "visitor" of the "T"-shaped Chinese space station

The Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft is the first "visitor" to arrive after the three-cabin "T" basic configuration of the Chinese space station was formed. It is known as the "supply force" and "food force" of the "Shenzhou 15" mission. Unlike previous cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft docks with a space station complex weighing 80 tons.

At 10:03 Beijing time on November 12, 2022, the Long March 7 Yao-6 carrier rocket carrying the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft ignited and launched on time at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in China. About 10 minutes later, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and entered the predetermined orbit. The spacecraft's solar panels started working smoothly, and the launch was a complete success. In this mission, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft achieved a 2-hour rapid rendezvous and docking for the first time, setting a record for the fastest rendezvous and docking of human spacecraft, marking a new breakthrough in China's space rendezvous and docking technology.

Image source: China Manned Spaceflight

The Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft carries consumables, propellants, application (test) equipment and other supplies for the three astronauts of Shenzhou-15 for six months of in-orbit stay. It also carries such experimental projects as the "Macao Student Science Satellite No. 1", hydrogen and oxygen fuel cells for aerospace, and a space wide energy spectrum high-energy particle detection payload.

The Tianzhou-5 mission is also the first time that Chinese astronauts have welcomed a cargo spacecraft in orbit. When the spacecraft approaches and hugs the space station, the astronauts in the Tiangong closely monitor the movements and parameters of the Tianzhou. When the docking is successfully completed and the Tianzhou is safely "stably stopped", the astronauts will enter the spacecraft and pick up the "home cargo" from the ground.

Image source: China Academy of Space Technology

In addition, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft also carried plant seeds for space breeding experiments. The seeds mainly include staple crops such as rice, wheat, corn, and a small amount of forest seeds. Later, these seeds will be returned to the ground via manned spacecraft and put on the market after being cultivated on the ground.

Mission accomplished

Tianzhou-5 says goodbye to everyone with ablation flames

It is reported that a number of space application projects carried onboard the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft have progressed smoothly and achieved gratifying results, accumulating important experience for the operation and management of the space station during its application and development stages.

In addition, the in-orbit experiment of space hydrogen and oxygen fuel cells was successful, which preliminarily verified the power generation characteristics, variable power response laws and interface characteristics of electrochemical reactions of the fuel cell energy system under vacuum, low temperature and microgravity conditions outside the orbital cabin, providing important data and theoretical support for the development of space fuel cell energy systems and key technology research. In the future, it will promote the development of aerospace fuel cell applications and provide strong support for advancing my country's manned lunar exploration mission.

The space high-energy particle detection payload completed its first extravehicular detection mission. This detection payload is the first in the world to break through the key technology of new inorganic excitation detection in the field of space detection, and achieved efficient neutron measurement and high-precision neutron/gamma-ray identification. In the future, it will continue to carry out detection of various charged particles, neutrons and particle radiation effects in space orbits, provide key reference parameters for conducting related space science experiments and engineering applications, and has great scientific research and application value.

Finally, let us watch Tianzhou-5 gradually move away from the space station’s first-person perspective.

Goodbye, Tianzhou-5!

Salute to China's space program!

Video source: China Manned Spaceflight

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, China Manned Spaceflight, etc.