China on Monday sent the third and for now the last module for its Tiangong (Heaven’s Palace) space station, which is currently under construction. As seen on Chinese state television, the Mengtian laboratory module took off from the Wenchang Cosmodrome on the tropical island of Hainan aboard a Long March 5B launch vehicle.
“Mengtian” (Dreams of the Heavens) is to be linked to the core module “Tianhe”, which was launched last year. The laboratory module “Wentian” docked with the space station in July, where three astronauts currently work and live.
Another manned flight planned for this year
Another manned flight is planned this year. After that, six astronauts have to stay temporarily in the new space station “Tiangong”. The T-shaped station, which will eventually weigh 66 tons, should then be completed and put into service.
“Tiangong” has about a fifth the mass of the International Space Station (ISS), carried by the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and European countries. The space station supports China’s ambitious plans to become a space power and overtake the major space nations of the US and Russia.
Source: Krone
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