Photo: Cui Meng/Global Times

China's Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the rear port of the orbiting Tiangong space station's Tianhe core module at 8:52 am on Tuesday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The mission delivered a wide array of supplies, including more than 190 types of food and 23 batches of scientific experiment materials.

According to China Central Television (CCTV), citing Liu Wei from the Astronaut Center of China, the Tianzhou-9 cargo vessel brought over 1.5 tons of food for the crew aboard the Tiangong space station. The food manifest includes more than 190 varieties, among which are over 90 types of side dishes—20 more than in previous missions.

New additions to the menu include homestyle Chinese favorites such as mapo tofu, tomato and egg stir-fry, stewed water chestnuts, vegetable medley, lotus root stir-fry, and cumin potatoes. "These dishes may seem ordinary on a typical family dinner table, but incorporating them into an astronaut's space menu requires extensive technological research," Liu said, as reported by CCTV.

"For example, mapo tofu is very delicate and typically breaks apart easily during stir-frying. But through technological upgrades and improvements in preparation techniques, we've now succeeded in bringing this dish to astronauts' dining tables in space," Liu explained.

This innovation aims to enhance astronauts' dietary experience and allow them to enjoy tastier food while in orbit. "We've moved beyond toothpaste-style food formats to provide staples, side dishes, ready-to-eat items, condiments, and even fresh fruits and vegetables—what we call the 'three staples and four categories' breakthrough," said Liu.

"Many people often ask whether space food consists of things they've never seen or eaten before. But in fact, what we strive for is to ensure astronauts can enjoy the tastes of ordinary life—even in space," Liu added, according to CCTV.

In addition to food supplies, the Tianzhou-9 spacecraft also carried a major batch of scientific experiment materials. CCTV reported that 23 payloads, totaling nearly 780 kilograms, were delivered for various research purposes, including a study aimed at finding new ways to counteract muscle atrophy in space.

Skeletal muscle atrophy observed in space closely resembles age-related muscle loss on Earth. Under microgravity, human muscles tend to shrink. One of the onboard experiments will investigate how skeletal muscle progenitor cells migrate under microgravity conditions, aiming to uncover molecular mechanisms behind muscle loss and identify key regulatory factors that could help prevent or reverse the process, CCTV noted.

The experiment focuses on understanding how skeletal muscle stem cells behave within cell culture units under microgravity, providing insights into maintaining healthy muscle function, CCTV reported.

When skeletal muscle cell homeostasis is disrupted, muscle atrophy occurs, said Ying Hao, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under normal conditions, skeletal muscle contains precursor cells or stem cells that can proliferate and differentiate to repair damaged tissue and maintain healthy muscle function. Understanding this process is key to developing better strategies to combat muscle atrophy, CCTV quoted Ying as saying.

Another major science payload onboard Tianzhou-9 focuses on the effects of spaceflight on the human nervous system. As astronauts often experience dizziness, sleep disorders, and even cognitive impairments during long-duration missions, researchers aim to better understand how space-related factors such as microgravity and radiation affect brain function, CCTV reported.

This neuroscience experiment will use the biotechnology experiment cabinet onboard the Wentian lab module to explore how space environments affect the human blood-brain barrier and brain function using organoid-on-a-chip models derived from human pluripotent stem cells.

According to CCTV, these biomimetic brain chips—about the size of a credit card—contain complex microvascular networks, neurons, immune cells, and structures that simulate the blood-brain barrier. They can replicate the intricate microenvironment of the human brain and its response to external stimuli.

With this kind of model, we can explore how space environments affect the structure and function of the human brain across multiple levels—from cells to tissues to organs—and uncover potential mechanisms, said Qin Jianhua, a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This research will provide tools for risk assessment and intervention strategies to safeguard astronauts' health during long-term missions, CCTV reported.

Global Times