This image shows China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-5 having conducted a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the combination of the space station Tiangong on Nov 12, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
BEIJING — China's Tianzhou-5 cargo craft, tasked with supporting the Shenzhou-15 crewed space mission, separated from the orbiting space station combination at 3:26 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time) and switched to independent flight, the China Manned Space Agency said.
China launched the Tianzhou-5 on Nov. 12, 2022 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan. It was loaded with six months of supplies for three Shenzhou-15 taikonauts, propellant and experiment facilities.
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After the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship separates from the station combination, the Tianzhou-5 will orbit and dock at the forward port of the station's node cabin, the agency said in a statement.