China's first resupply craft, Tianzhou-1, has been deorbited under orders from ground controllers.

Following a set of braking maneuvers, the robotic cargo ship plunged into Earth's atmosphere and burned up late Friday (Sept. 22) Beijing time, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Tianzhou-1 launched on April 20 and docked with China's orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab two days later.

Over the past five months, Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 accomplished a trio of refueling sequences: One on April 27, a second on June 15 and a final one on Sept. 16, Xinhua reported.

Tiangong-2 was unoccupied during these activities.

Chinese space officials view the refueling and docking activities as a prelude to the country's building of a larger space station in the mid- 2020s.

Source:
courtesy of SPACE

by Leonard David

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]