The last module of China’s Tiangong space station hung there on Tuesday, following its successful launch on Monday, which should allow it to become fully operational as part of China’s ambitious program in space.
China’s desire to build a space station has been fueled in part by the US refusal to accept Chinese into the International Space Station (ISS) program, a collaboration between the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Named Mengtian (“dream of heaven”), the module was launched at 3:27 p.m. (0727 GMT) by a Long March 5B rocket from the tropical island of Hainan (south), according to public television CCTV.
“Total success” for the launch of the last module
From a beach near the Wenchang launch site, amateur photographers and space enthusiasts captured the event.
“The Mengtian experimental module has accurately entered the predefined orbit,” mission director Deng Hongqin told television a few minutes later.
“I declare this launch a complete success,” said Deng Hongqin, surrounded by enthusiastic colleagues in the control room.
Mengtian is the third and last major component of the T-shaped Tiangong space station. Some 13 hours later, early Tuesday Chinese time, Mengtian clung to Tiangong, the state-run New China News Agency reported, citing the chinese space agency
A shelf life of at least a decade.
Similar in size to the defunct Russian-Soviet Mir station, Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) is expected to have a lifespan of at least 10 years.
It must allow China to maintain a long-term human presence in space.
Its assembly required a total of eleven missions. The last one on Monday allowed transporting state-of-the-art scientific equipment.
In particular, “the first cold atomic clock” was sent into space, the official New China agency greeted. Ultimately, the device should allow for more accurate time measurement.
Since June, three astronauts, including a woman, have been on the Chinese space station for a mission of about six months.
The country is catching up
Even if China does not plan international cooperation for its station, Beijing has ensured that it is open to foreign collaboration.
The Asian giant has spent several decades investing billions of euros in its space program, which has allowed it to compensate for most of its delay against the Americans and Russians.
Monday’s launch is “very important,” Chen Lan, an analyst at Go-Taikonauts.com, told AFP, as it “concludes China’s 30-year space plan, which began in 1992.”
“With the completion of its space station, China is now on an equal footing with the United States, Russia and Europe in space, which also gives it significant political influence,” he said.
Lunar target around 2030
China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. It then landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon in 2019, a world first.
In 2020, the country returned samples from the Moon and completed Beidou, its satellite navigation system, a rival to the US GPS. The following year, a small robot landed on Mars. China plans to put men on the moon by 2030.
Source: BFM TV
