App

China's space-tracking ship completes tasks for Tianzhou-2, Shenzhou-12 missions
Updated: June 22, 2021 07:19 Xinhua

ABOARD YUANWANG-6 — China's Yuanwang-6 space-tracking ship returned to its homeport on June 21 after completing its telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) tasks for the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship missions.

Yuanwang-6, China's third-generation space-tracking ship, was at sea for 29 days, sailing more than 5,000 nautical miles for the two missions.

On May 29, China launched Tianzhou-2. The cargo freighter, carrying supplies, equipment and propellant, successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on May 30.

On June 17, China successfully launched Shenzhou-12, with three astronauts on board for space station construction.

Yuanwang-6 has provided vital communication between the spacecraft and the ground.

When the Shenzhou-12 spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, reached the TT&C range of Yuangwang-6 sailing in the Pacific Ocean at the time, the space-tracking ship discovered and captured the signals of the spaceship promptly.

The tracking vessel helped Shenzhou-12 undertake several key moves, including orbit entry and unfolding of solar panels, providing significant data support for the missions.

As the only maritime TT&C point in the Shenzhou missions, Yuanwang-6 sent several key instructions to the spacecraft and sent back astronauts' images and voice information, according to Yang Bianjiao, captain of Yuanwang-6.

Yuanwang-6 has completed six maritime TT&C missions this year. 

Copyright© www.gov.cn | About us | Contact us

Website Identification Code bm01000001 Registration Number: 05070218

All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to www.gov.cn.

Without written authorization from www.gov.cn, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.

Mobile

Desktop

Copyright© www.gov.cn | Contact us

Website Identification Code bm01000001

Registration Number: 05070218