Planned to re-enter the atmosphere under controlled conditions on September 12th, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft successfully withdrew from the space station assembly
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, at 16:46 Beijing time on September 11, 2023, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, which had completed all scheduled tasks, successfully withdrew from the space station assembly and entered independent flight. It will be controlled for re-entry into the atmosphere on September 12 as planned. Most of the components of the cargo spacecraft will be burned and destroyed during re-entry, and a small amount of debris will fall into the designated safe waters of the South Pacific.
The Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft was launched into orbit on November 12, 2022 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, carrying consumables, propellants, application experimental equipment, and other materials for three astronauts of the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft to stay in orbit for six months. It also carried multiple space application projects such as the "Macau Student Science Popularization Satellite 1" Cubic Star, space hydrogen and oxygen fuel cells, and space high-energy particle detection payloads. During the in orbit flight of the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, it withdrew from the space station assembly on May 5, 2023 and conducted rendezvous and docking with the space station assembly again after 33 days of independent flight, continuing to carry out relevant space technology experiments.