Tianzhou-10 Launches on Long March 7 and Docks With Tiangong's Tianhe Module in Under Five Hours, Carrying 6.2 Tons of Cargo
China's tenth Tianzhou cargo spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang at 8:14 a.m. Beijing time on May 11 and rendezvoused with Tiangong's Tianhe core module the same afternoon, delivering propellant, a new EVA suit, and six scientific payloads.
Overview
China’s Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft lifted off atop a Long March 7 Y11 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan at 8:14 a.m. Beijing time on Monday, May 11, 2026, according to China Daily. About ten minutes after liftoff, the freighter separated from the rocket and entered its target orbit with its solar arrays deployed, Friends of NASA reported citing the Chinese space agency. At 1:11 p.m. Beijing time the same day, Tianzhou-10 docked with the aft port of the Tianhe core module, completing the rendezvous in just under five hours, per Global Times.
What We Know
The spacecraft is the tenth in the Tianzhou series and the ninth resupply flight to the Tiangong space station, Wikipedia notes. According to China Daily, it is the 20th spaceship and the ninth cargo craft to connect with Tiangong.
The payload manifest is built around three main elements. CGTN describes nearly 6.2 tonnes of essential supplies, including over 220 pieces of goods weighing approximately 5.2 tonnes for crew support, one complete set of extravehicular spacesuits, various maintenance spare parts, and approximately 700 kilograms of propellant for station refueling. Global Times reports that the suit on board is the third set of new-type extravehicular spacesuits delivered to the station.
Scientific cargo includes a new treadmill and six sets of experimental instruments, according to China Daily, supporting work in microgravity and fluid physics. Global Times characterises the six scientific payloads as the largest number ever carried on a single mission since construction of the space station.
One of those payloads comes from Hong Kong. China Daily Hong Kong reports that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first locally-developed scientific payload has been launched into space, describing it as the world’s first lightweight, high-resolution, high-precision payload for synergistic observatory of carbon dioxide and methane. The instrument was developed by a research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is designed to monitor greenhouse gas concentrations and quantify emission fluxes for carbon reduction policy assessments, the same outlet notes.
Tianzhou-10 is also planned to stay attached to the station for longer than its predecessors. Friends of NASA reports that the spacecraft is set to remain in-orbit for 12 months, longer than previous missions that stayed nine to 10 months at the space station. Global Times attributes the cargo-efficiency framing to spacecraft developer Dang Rong, who said the vehicle achieves “a cargo-to-weight ratio of 53 percent, which is indeed a world-leading standard.”
The upgrades trace back to an earlier overhaul of the Tianzhou design. CGTN quotes Yu Lei, a senior engineer at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, who said: “Starting from Tianzhou-6, we carried out a major design improvement, increasing the volume of the sealed cabin by about 20% and the weight of the cargo loaded to more than 7 tonnes.”
The flight was also a milestone for the Long March family. Daily Excelsior reports that this launch marks the 641st for the Chang Zheng (Long March) series launch vehicle and the 39th for the Tiangong orbital station project.
What We Don’t Know
Details of the six scientific payloads beyond the Hong Kong greenhouse-gas instrument have not been published in full. Cited sources describe broad categories such as microgravity, fluid physics, and new spacecraft technological tests, but specific principal investigators and operating schedules for the other experiments are not enumerated in the public reporting reviewed. Reports also differ in their phrasing of cargo mass: most of the launch-day coverage gives a round figure of “nearly 6.2 tons” including over 220 items plus 700 kilograms of propellant, while Wikipedia lists pressurized cargo of 6,300 kg, fuel of 700 kg, and a separately stated payload mass of 7,400 kg, suggesting that different sources are reporting different subsets of the manifest rather than a single agreed figure. Comparisons with international cargo programs based on the 53 percent ratio attributed to Dang Rong are made by the developer and not independently verified in the cited reporting.