The Long March-7 Y6 carrier rocket arrives at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern China's Hainan Province, October 11, 2022. /CMSA
The Long March-7 Y6 carrier rocket, which will send the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft to China's space station in orbit, arrived at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern China's Hainan Province on Tuesday.
The rocket and the Tianzhou-5, which previously arrived, will be assembled and tested at the launch site, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
The Long March-7 Y6 carrier rocket arrives at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch site in southern China's Hainan Province by sea, October 11, 2022. /CMSA
Four missions ahead
The construction of China's space station has entered the final stage, with four tightly scheduled missions by the end of this year to complete the space station. They are the launch of the second lab module Mengtian, the Tianzhou-5 cargo mission, the Shenzhou-15 manned mission and the return of the Shenzhou-14 crew from the space station.
The three Shenzhou-14 crew members, who were sent to the space station on June 5 for a six-month mission, are expected to come back to Earth in early December.
Before their return, the Shenzhou-15 crew will be launched to the space station to rotate with the Shenzhou-14 crew in orbit.
Currently, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China is gearing up for the the Shenzhou-15 launch mission and the return of the Shenzhou-14 crew. The Shenzhou-15 crew members are also stepping up training for their spaceflight, the agency said.