Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image from first refueling test as craft approached space lab in April.
Credit: CGTM

Chinese space officials report that a second refueling test has been completed.

The testing involves the country’s Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 space lab.

This second refueling lasted about two days, reports China’s Xinhua news agency “and cemented technical results from the first refueling.”

As China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1 was lofted into Earth orbit on April 20 from the Wenchang spaceport in south China’s Hainan Province. The first auto-docking with Tiangong-2 space lab took place on April 22, followed by the two spacecraft completing their first in-orbit refueling on April 27.

Larger Chinese space station to be constructed on orbit in the 2020s.
Credit: CMSA

29 step program

As reported earlier on CCTV-Plus, during its two-month flight in space, the cargo spacecraft is slated to refuel the space lab three times.

Each refueling is scheduled to demonstrate a different aspect to China’s approach to space refueling. The refueling procedure takes 29 steps to complete and lasts for several days each time.

In-orbit refueling has been deemed as a major need-to-have by Chinese space officials to further their future space station plans – a multi-module complex to be completed in the mid-2020’s.

Go to this CCTV-Plus video clip regarding the Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 space lab exercise at:

http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20170616/8053255.shtml