BEIJING, May 5 -- China's Tianzhou-5 cargo craft, tasked with supporting the Shenzhou-15 crewed space mission, separated from the orbiting space station combination at 3:26 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time) and switched to independent flight, the China Manned Space Agency said.

China launched the Tianzhou-5 on Nov. 12, 2022 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan. It was loaded with six months of supplies for three Shenzhou-15 taikonauts, propellant and experiment facilities.

After the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship separates from the station combination, the Tianzhou-5 will orbit and dock at the forward port of the station's node cabin, the agency said in a statement.