CHINA’S Shenzhou-19 crew aboard the orbiting Tiangong space station received a shipment of supplies from Earth on Saturday, after the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the space station. At 8:26 a.m., astronaut Cai Xuzhe opened the hatch of Tianzhou-8 and entered the cargo ship. Tianzhou-8 carried approximately six tons of materials, including consumables for the astronauts’ in-orbit residency, propellants, experiment equipment, and over 400 kilograms of scientific research supplies. The Shenzhou-19 crew will proceed with cargo transfer and other related tasks as planned. The Tianzhou 8 robotic cargo ship was launched Friday night in Hainan Province, becoming the last spacecraft to visit China’s Tiangong space station this year. About three hours later, the cargo craft successfully docked with the space station. With the cargo vessel on top of it, a Long March 7 carrier rocket lifted off at 11:13 p.m. local time from a launch service tower at the Wenchang Space Launch Center, according to the China Manned Space Agency. After a short flight, the rocket placed the Tianzhou 8 into its preset low-Earth orbit and the solar wings on the cargo ship unfolded, marking the successful completion of the launch mission, the agency said. The materials inside the cargo vessel are sufficient to support a three-member crew for nine months, according to its designers at the China Academy of Space Technology. Tianzhou 8’s predecessor, Tianzhou 7, undocked from the Tiangong space station the week before and started a period of solo flight. It is programmed to fall back to Earth soon, and most of the spaceship will burn up during reentry, although a small amount of debris is expected to fall into secure areas in the South Pacific Ocean, according to the space agency. Orbiting Earth at a distance of around 400 kilometers, Tiangong has three permanent parts — a core module and two science capsules — and is regularly connected to several visiting crew and cargo spaceships. (SD-Agencies) | 