The Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft was expected to have been
launched early Thursday morning. China Manned Space announced the delay on its
website but didn't say when the rescheduled launch may occur.
It would be the first mission to head to the main Tianhe
module of the space station that was launched on April 29. Another 10 launches
are planned to deliver the station's other two modules, various components, and
supplies, and a three-person crew.
The launch of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, was considered a
success although China was criticised for allowing the uncontrolled reentry of
part of the rocket that carried it into space.
Usually, discarded rocket stages reenter the atmosphere soon
after liftoff, normally over water, and don't go into orbit.
NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson said at the time that
China had failed to meet responsible standards regarding space debris.
China's space programme has suffered relatively few setbacks
since it first put an astronaut into orbit in 2003, although the space station
launch was delayed by the failure of an earlier version of the massive Long
March 5B rocket.
Earlier this month, China also landed a probe and its
accompanying rover on Mars and has begun sending back pictures from the surface
of the red planet.
Only the United States has successfully landed and operated
a spacecraft on Mars — nine times, beginning with the twin Vikings in 1976 and,
most recently, with the Perseverance rover in February.
China also recently brought back lunar samples, the first by
any country's space program since the 1970s, and also landed a probe and rover
on the moon's less explored far side.
China earlier launched two smaller experimental space
stations. It has been excluded from the International Space Station largely at
the insistence of the United States, which is wary of the secrecy surrounding
the Chinese space programme and its close military links.
Despite that, China has entered into increasingly close
cooperation in space with various European and other countries.
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