China Space Station: Tianzhou 5 makes world-record
Updated 18:43, 07-Feb-2023
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Tianzhou 5 cargo ship has broken a world record in the time needed for rendezvous and docking, in just two hours after launching from southern China's Hainan Province Saturday morning.

Sun Ye Beijing Ground Control "Space experts have long anticipated world-records from China Space Station, they say it's not a question of if, but a question of when and what. And here it is, on Saturday, a record-breaking short time for rendezvous and docking process: just two hours after launch, the Tianzhou-5 cargo ship completed the docking process with China Space Station."

LI GUANGRI Designer in Charge, Cargo Ship General System China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) "It's indeed the highlight of the day: Tianzhou-5's rendezvous and docking process took less than two hours, not only shorter than Tianzhou-4's 6.5 hours but also shorter than the world record previously held by Russia's Soyuz of around three hours. This means, China's cargo ship has set a world record.

"We've improved Tianzhou-4's procedures in many ways. The guiding strategies have become better and there are now fewer anchoring points in close range: you could compare it to a bullet train, it's faster than regular trains because it has higher speed and fewer stops.

"Now the Tianzhou series has the capability of all-position-docking from early on. Cargo ships must deliver supplies on demand, so they should be versatile in their docking process. For example, if special biology samples or fresh foods need to arrive quickly at the space station, we can then choose the 2-hour rendezvous and docking procedure.

"Today, Tianzhou-5 also did another important thing. It carried the heaviest cargo among its predecessors to Tiangong, 6.7 tons of supplies."

SUN YE Beijing Ground Control "Tianzhou 5 is also responsible for the last supply mission before China Space Station completes. SY, CGTN, BJ."

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