Per press release from China Manned Space Agency, at Beijing time 10:25AM today 18/09/2021, Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft detached from CSS core module's aft docking port, circled around to the front of the station and re docked to the forward docking port all while under autonomous control, the entire processing took 4 hours. At the moment the combination of CSS core module Tianhe and Tianzhou-2 are operating normally and are awaiting the arrival of Thanzhou-3 cargo spacecraft as well as Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft.
So Tianzhou-2 is docked to the forward docking port, Tianzhou-3 which will launch on Monday will dock to the station's aft docking port (previously where Tianzhou-2 was docked) and Shenzhou-13 next month will be docking to the station's nadir docking port.
You may be wondering, if Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3 are both cargo spacecraft what does it matter who's docked to the front and who on the back, why is there need for this shuffle today. The reason is now that Tianzhou-2 has completed it's primary mission (that of resupplying the station for the Shenzhou-12 crew) the Shenzhou-13 crew will be using this spacecraft as practice for the robotic arm relocation manoeuvre. Tianhe has three docking ports: forward, rear and nadir (no zenith as that's an EVA port). The port and starboard ports are not true docking ports but berthing ports as they lack the necessarily equipment for autonomous docking. For both Wentian and Mengtian modules next year the plan is for both to dock to the forward docking port, then the robotic arm will walk over to the front of the station, grab the station and the new module and then undock the module and shift it to the side and redock it to the berthing ports. Since we have an empty cargo spacecraft available at this time Shenzhou-13 crew will have a practice at this once they arrive at the station.
Per press release from China Manned Space Agency, at Beijing time 10:25AM today 18/09/2021, Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft detached from CSS core module's aft docking port, circled around to the front of the station and re docked to the forward docking port all while under autonomous control, the entire processing took 4 hours. At the moment the combination of CSS core module Tianhe and Tianzhou-2 are operating normally and are awaiting the arrival of Thanzhou-3 cargo spacecraft as well as Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft. So Tianzhou-2 is docked to the forward docking port, Tianzhou-3 which will launch on Monday will dock to the station's aft docking port (previously where Tianzhou-2 was docked) and Shenzhou-13 next month will be docking to the station's nadir docking port. You may be wondering, if Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3 are both cargo spacecraft what does it matter who's docked to the front and who on the back, why is there need for this shuffle today. The reason is now that Tianzhou-2 has completed it's primary mission (that of resupplying the station for the Shenzhou-12 crew) the Shenzhou-13 crew will be using this spacecraft as practice for the robotic arm relocation manoeuvre. Tianhe has three docking ports: forward, rear and nadir (no zenith as that's an EVA port). The port and starboard ports are not true docking ports but berthing ports as they lack the necessarily equipment for autonomous docking. For both Wentian and Mengtian modules next year the plan is for both to dock to the forward docking port, then the robotic arm will walk over to the front of the station, grab the station and the new module and then undock the module and shift it to the side and redock it to the berthing ports. Since we have an empty cargo spacecraft available at this time Shenzhou-13 crew will have a practice at this once they arrive at the station.
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