China has sent a cargo ship carrying supplies to the Tiangong space station
On May 11, China successfully launched the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft carrying supplies for the crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission, which has been at the Tiangong space station since last October.
This was reported by CGTN, citing the China Manned Space Agency.
The launch was carried out using a Long March-7 Y11 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island. Approximately 10 minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft entered its intended orbit, and about five hours later, it successfully docked with the station’s core module.
Tianzhou-10 delivered nearly 6.2 tons of cargo to orbit, including supplies for the astronauts and equipment for 41 scientific experiments. These include research in the fields of space medicine, microgravity, space technology, and astronomy.
This is the fifth cargo flight as part of the operation of the Chinese Tiangong space station and the 641st launch of a Long March rocket.
It should be noted that such compounds are a common occurrence in space. The Japanese Hayabusa-2 probe delivered similar compounds from the asteroid Ryugu. And NASA researchers have detected organic compounds, including sugar molecules, in samples brought back from the asteroid Bennu.
The Curiosity rover has identified more than 20 types of organic molecules, including a nitrogen-containing compound structurally similar to the building blocks of DNA.
