China announced the successful completion of the initial stage of the creation of the Tiangong orbital complex
The relevant department announced that they had achieved all the goals during the tests of key technologies, the engineering part had been implemented, and now it is possible to start construction.
The functioning of the main module “Tianhe” continues in the normal mode, the carriers for the project are also able to perform the upcoming tasks.
The launch of the Tianhe module for the future Tiangong station into orbit took place on 04/29/2021. During the year, two teams of astronauts, three specialists each, flew to the module, three space trucks and a couple of manned spacecraft flew to the module.
The Chinese side says that a full-fledged station can be built in orbit this year. Six more flights will take place to dock two laboratory modules to the base one.
The Tiangong station weighing about 90 tons will operate at a distance of 400 kilometers from the earth’s surface.
Photo: © Shujianyang / CC BY-SA 4.0