China launched on Sunday, 24, the second of the three modules of the space station it is building. The launch was broadcast live on the country’s state television channel (CCTV). The module, called Wentian, which weighs about 20 tons, without astronauts on board, was propelled by a Long March 5B rocket at 3:22 am (GMT) from the Wenchang launch center in the south of the country.
About 18 meters long and 4.2 meters in diameter, the laboratory module docked with Tianhe – the first of the station, which has been in orbit since April 2021 -, eight minutes after taking off.
Equipped with three sleeping spaces, bathrooms and a kitchen, the new module also has sectors for scientific experiments. Wentian will also serve as a platform to control the space station in case of technical problems.
Named Tiangong (Heavenly Palace, in literal translation), but also known by the acronym CSS (Chinese Space Station, in English), the station should be fully operational by the end of the year. After Wentian, the astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 mission, who already live at the station, will receive the third module, Mengtian, in October.
With the third “piece”, the station will have a “T” shape. It will be similar in size to the former Soviet-Russian space station Mir. The “life expectancy” is at least ten years.
China has been investing billions of dollars in its space program for several decades. The Asian giant sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. In 2019, the country placed a device on the far side of the Moon, an unprecedented event worldwide. In 2020, it collected samples from Earth’s satellite, and the following year it sent a small robot to Mars. China plans to send men to the Moon around 2030. (With international agencies).
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