China's cargo spacecraft re-enters Earth's atmosphere, mostly burns up

China's Tianzhou-2 cargo craft entered the Earth's atmosphere under ground control at 6:40 p.m. Beijing Time, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Thursday.

Most of the spacecraft burned up during the process, while a small amount of the debris fell into the intended area of safe water in the South Pacific, said the agency.

Tianzhou-2 is the first cargo ship sent into space during the construction of China's space station. It carried out a series of extended application tests in orbit.

It was launched into orbit on May 29, 2021, carrying 6.8 tonnes of supplies for the space station.

On March 27, 2022, Tianzhou-2 left the core module of the Tiangong space station after completing all of its scheduled tasks, the agency said.

Photo taken at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on March 31, 2022 shows a simulation image of the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft.

Photo taken at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on March 31, 2022 shows a simulation image of the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft.

Photo taken at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on March 31, 2022 shows a simulation image of the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft.

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