China launched the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-10 on Monday morning to deliver supplies for its orbiting Tiangong space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
The Long March-7 Y11 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-10, blasted off at 08:14 Beijing Time from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan, the agency said.
After about 10 minutes, Tianzhou-10 separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit. Its solar panels soon unfolded. The agency declared the launch a complete success.
The cargo craft will later conduct a rendezvous and docking with the space station combination.
Afterwards, the Shenzhou-21 crew, who boarded the space station on Nov 1, 2025, will enter the cargo craft and transfer the items as scheduled.
The Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft will deliver nearly 6.2 tonnes of supplies to the space station, including a new extravehicular spacesuit, a space treadmill, about 700 kilograms of propellant, essential living materials for the Shenzhou-23 and Shenzhou-24 crews, and over 220 items of maintenance spare parts for astronaut systems, station systems, cargo systems and application missions.
The mission is the fifth cargo resupply flight of China's manned space program since the space station entered the application and development phase. It is also the 641th mission of the Long March rocket series.
This time, Tianzhou-10 is set to remain in-orbit for 12 months, longer than previous missions which stayed nine to 10 months at the space station.
The Tianzhou-9 separated from the orbiting Tiangong space station combination on May 6 and re-entered the atmosphere under controlled conditions on May 7. The space station has thus cleared a docking port to make room for the Tianzhou-10, according to the CMSA.
China launches Tianzhou-10 cargo craft to deliver space station supplies
China launches Tianzhou-10 cargo craft to deliver space station supplies
More than 20 U.S. warships are enforcing blockade against Iran, U.S. Central Command posted on social media platform X on Sunday.
Since April 13, the U.S. military has ordered 61 merchant ships to change course and has disabled four vessels, said the post.
Following a temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, the former has continued its naval blockade against Iran, while Iran has demanded its lifting.
A top Iranian diplomat on Sunday warned that the presence of French and British warships in the Strait of Hormuz to accompany the U.S. "illegal and internationally unlawful" actions will be met with a "decisive and immediate" response from Iran's armed forces.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, made the statement in a social media post while responding to France's deployment of its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to prepare for a future joint mission between Paris and London to secure the freedom of shipping and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said the British government has also announced that to accompany France, it will send a warship to the Red Sea, adding any deployment and stationing of trans-regional destroyers around the Strait of Hormuz under the pretext of protecting shipping "is nothing but an escalation of the crisis, the militarization of the vital waterway, and an attempt to cover up the true root of insecurity in the region."
He added that maritime security cannot be ensured through a "show of military power," especially by actors who themselves contribute to the problems through their support, participation, or silence in the face of the anti-Iran "aggression and blockade."
He claimed that Iran, as a coastal country, has the right to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and determine its legal arrangements.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iran's Navy Commander Shahram Irani as saying the navy has deployed light, homegrown submarines in the Strait of Hormuz to counter the "enemy's" warships.
Also on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said in Nairobi, Kenya, that France had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in the Strait of Hormuz, but rather a security mission to be "coordinated with Iran," noting that he was sticking to his position of opposing a blockade from either side.
Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz beginning Feb. 28, when it barred safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.
The United States has also imposed a naval blockade on the strait, preventing ships traveling to and from Iranian ports from transiting the waterway.
Sporadic clashes erupted last Thursday and Friday between Iran and the United States in and around the Strait of Hormuz after Washington launched a project, called Project Freedom, to guide stranded ships out of the waterway.
Over 20 US warships enforcing blockade against Iran
