Bai Mingsheng, chief designer of the cargo spacecraft system of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, revealed that at present, the design work of Tianzhou 6 has been completed and the general assembly has begun. Bai Mingsheng said that Tianzhou 6 to 11 are ships produced in the same batch. The cargo cabin of Tianzhou 6 will be greatly improved, and the cargo transportation capacity of the sealed cabin will be greatly improved.
This means that the time for providing support to astronauts will be further extended in the future. Now, two rounds a year and three ships in two years may be enough in the future, which will greatly improve the economic benefits.
At 8:54 Beijing time on May 10, 2022, the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the backward port of the space station Tianhe core module by using the autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking mode.
The Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft is loaded with consumables, propellants, application (test) devices, sample materials, spare parts, partial loads and other materials for the three astronauts of Shenzhou 14 to stay in orbit for six months. After the rendezvous and docking is completed, it will be transferred to the flight section of the assembly.