A Long March 7 rocket carrying Tianzhou 3 blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 3:10 pm on Monday.
Atop the 53-meter rocket, the craft entered a low Earth orbit, unfolded its solar panels at 3:22 pm and began to execute rapid autonomous rendezvous and docking procedures with China's Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement.
The Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft will be launched by a Long March 7 rocket around 3 pm on Sept 20, 2021, at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan. [Photo by Hu Xujie/For chinadaily.com.cn]