HELSINKI — China launched a new cargo spacecraft to its Tiangong space station Monday to deliver astronaut supplies, new spacesuits and a range of experiments.
Tianzhou-9 launched atop a Long March 7 rocket from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:34 p.m. Eastern (2134 UTC) July 14. The spacecraft separated from the rocket around 10 minutes into the flight. Solar arrays deployed minutes after liftoff, shortly after which the launch was declared a success.
The cargo spacecraft is due to dock with the Tiangong space station—currently in a 391 by 403-kilometer altitude orbit inclined by 41.5 degrees—around three hours later, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO). It will be the third such mission to use the three-hour rapid rendezvous approach, following the first with Tianzhou-7.
Three astronauts comprising the Shenzhou-20 mission crew are awaiting the spacecraft’s arrival aboard Tiangong. The cargo craft will deliver around 6,500 kilograms of supplies, marking a new record for a Tianzhou mission by around 100 kg, according to Global Times.
Among the cargo are two upgraded Feitian extravehicular activity (EVA) suits. Each is designed for up to 20 EVAs over four years, surpassing the longevity of previous models. Previous Feitian suits could handle 15 spacewalks over three years.
Tianzhou-9 also includes a novel core muscle training device for astronauts, as well as around 30 added space food varieties. This will boost dietary options to over 190 items and extend the meal rotation cycle from seven to 10 days.
Approximately 776.5 kg of the cargo will be experiments for 23 projects spanning life sciences, materials science, microgravity physics and combustion research. These were variously developed by 10 institutes and 11 universities.
China launches Tianzhou cargo missions roughly every eight months to deliver supplies to astronauts and replenish Tiangong with propellant. China aims to operate the three-module Tiangong for at least a decade. Earlier Tianzhou spacecraft had a total mass of around 13,500 kg and could carry about 6,500 kg. Starting with Tianzhou-6, the design was optimized to raise payload capacity by roughly 20 percent, up to 7,400 kg.
The country is also preparing to expand the space station to six modules in the future. It will also launch the co-orbital Xuntian space telescope to the complex in late 2026.
The Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft, launched Nov. 15 last year, separated from Tiangong 5:09 a.m. Eastern July 8 in preparation for the expected arrival of Tianzhou-9. Tianzhou-8 completed a controlled reentry at 6:42 p.m. Eastern (2242 UTC) later that day. The spacecraft delivered samples of brick made of synthetic lunar soil for exposure testing outside Tiangong. The results will inform future lunar surface base construction.
CMSEO recently awarded contracts to two companies to develop prototypes of low-cost cargo concepts to supply Tiangong, improving options and flexibility. The first prototypes—the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft from Microsat and the Haolong reusable shuttle being developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)—are due to launch on the test launches of the commercial Kinetica-2 rocket (CAS Space) and Zhuque-3 (Landspace) respectively later this year.
Monday’s mission was China’s 37th launch of 2025, following the July 3 launch of the Shiyan-28B (01) spacecraft, which was tracked nearly a week later in an unexpected low-inclination low Earth orbit.
China has, unusually, not stated a planned launch cadence for 2025, but currently appears on course to match or better its national record for annual launches (68) set in 2024.