China's cargo craft successfully docks with space station module

Beijing: China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2, carrying supplies, equipment and propellant, successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on Sunday, according to authorities.

At 5.01 a.m. (Beijing Time), Tianzhou-2 and Tianhe completed computer-orchestrated rendezvous and docking, Xinhua news agency quoted the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) as saying.

The whole process took approximately eight hours, it added.

The Long March-7 Y3 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-2, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 8.55 p.m., on Saturday.

Combined with Tianhe, Tianzhou-2 will replenish Tianhe's propellant.

Tests on space application project equipment will also be carried out as planned.

China launched its space station core module Tianhe on April 29.

The country plans to complete the verification of key technologies and the in-orbit construction of the space station through multiple launches within two years.

The launch of the cargo craft was the first time that the space station cargo transportation system, composed of the Tianzhou spacecraft and Long March-7 rockets, was put into use.