At 01:56 a.m. May 10, 2022 Beijing time, the Long March-7 Y5 launch vehicle carrying Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft blasted off at Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. After around 10 minutes, Tianzhou-4 successfully separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit. At 2:23 a.m., the spacecraft's solar panels were successfully deployed and working normally, and the launch was a complete success. Subsequently, Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft will rendezvous and dock with the space station assembly.
This launch marks the 22nd launch mission of China Manned Space Program, the first launch mission for China Space Station construction after transformed from the key technology verification stage to the on-orbit construction stage, and the 420th flight of the Long March series launch vehicle.
After entering its orbit, Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft completed its status settings successfully. At 8:54 on May 10, 2022 Beijing time, Tianzhou-4 successfully docked with the rear hatch of the space station core module Tianhe by the rapid autonomous rendezvous and docking mode. It's reported that Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft loaded the consumables, propellant, utilization experiment (demonstration) devices and samples, spare parts, part of the payloads and other materials for the 3 Shenzhou-14 crew members to stay in orbit for 6 months. After finishing the rendezvous and docking, Tianzhou-4 will turn into assembly flight mode.
