China’s Cargo Spacecraft Completes First of Three in Orbit Refueling Operations

China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 on Thursday completed refueling the Tiangong-2 space lab for the first time with the “in-flight refueling“ technology. The cargo spacecraft was launched from the Wenchang Launch Center on April 20 and successfully docked with the space lab two days later. During its two-month flight in space, the cargo spacecraft is scheduled to refuel the space lab three times. Each refueling resorts to a different formality. The refueling procedure takes 29 steps to complete and lasts for several days each time. “Leaders and comrades, according to reports from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the experiment of in-orbit propellant refueling from Tianzhou-1 spacecraft to Tiangong-2 space lab has been completed successfully. Here I pronounce that Tianzhou-1’s space mission has completed with success,“ said Zhang Youxia, the commander-in-chief of China’s manned space program. If the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft succeeds in