China's cargo craft Tianzhou-8 successfully docks with Tiangong space station

China

China's cargo craft Tianzhou-8 successfully docks with Tiangong space station

2024-11-16 04:53 Last Updated At：13:17

The Chinese cargo craft Tianzhou-8 completed its status setup and successfully docked with the orbiting Tiangong space station on Saturday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

At 02:32 Beijing Time (18:32 GMT), the Tianzhou-8 cargo craft docked at the rear docking port of the Tianhe core module, said the CMSA.

The Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard the space station will gradually transfer items from the cargo craft to the station.

Tianzhou-8 was launched into space atop a Long March-7 Y9 carrier rocket at 23:13 Beijing Time (15:13 GMT) on Friday from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province.

The cargo craft is loaded with essential supplies for the orbiting crew, including living necessities, medical supplies and support materials for their spacewalks.

It also carries multiple new test payloads that will provide crucial support for the advancement and application of new technologies, as well as the progress of space science.

Notably, the 'lunar soil brick,' created by Chinese scientists to simulate the composition of lunar soil, is also aboard Tianzhou-8 for space exposure experiments aimed at confirming whether the 'brick' can be used to construct houses on the moon.

There is also a unique species -- fruit flies -- among the scientific experiment payloads carried by Tianzhou-8. They are expected to help complete the country's first space sub-magnetic-microgravity composite environment science experiment.

It's time for Iran to withdraw from NPT: spokesman

The Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei said Friday that it's time for Iran to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as the treaty has failed to protect Iran's nuclear facilities from the ongoing U.S. and Israeli attacks.

In a post on social media platform X, Rezaei said there is no benefit for Iran to remain part of the pact.

He noted that the treaty has failed to protect Iran's nuclear facilities from attacks, and that the relevant international documents and agreements have been completely ignored.

Rezaei reaffirmed that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons and this policy has not changed.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeated its calls for restraint in the Middle East after Israel struck two Iranian nuclear facilities, including a uranium processing plant.