China launches first section of its massive space station
Source: chinadaily| Date:2021-4-29
China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Sixty years after Yuri Gagarin undertook mankind's first space journey, China launched the core capsule of its space station on Thursday morning, formally embarking on the buildup of one of the humanity's largest and most sophisticated space-based facilities.
On behalf of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission, President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the CMC, extended warm congratulations and sincere greetings to all members who have participated in the mission in a congratulatory message. Xi said in the message the successful launch of the core module marks that China's space station construction has entered the full implementation stage, which lays a solid foundation for the follow-up tasks.
The launch is tasked with transporting the 22.5 ton capsule, the biggest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever constructed, to a low-Earth orbit about 400 kilometers above the land to place the first piece of the country's space station. The craft's weight equals that of 15 ordinary-sized cars combined.
An illustration of China's space station. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China's most adventurous space endeavor, the multimodule space station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, will be mainly composed of three components-a core module attached to two space laboratories-with a combined weight of nearly 70 tons.
With a core stage and four side boosters, the rocket has a liftoff weight of 849 tons, capable of sending a 25 ton payload to orbits near Earth.
China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
It is now the only rocket in China that can launch Tiangong's heavy components. Construction for the space station marks the beginning of the third stage in China's manned space program, which was approved by the government in 1992.
China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Su Dong/ Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The program's first two stages had concluded successfully with six manned spaceflights and two experimental space lab missions.
In addition to its own components, the station will also be accompanied by an optical telescope that will be lifted after the station's completion to fly together with it, according to them.
A Long March-5B heavy-lift rocket is ready to send the core module of China's space station into the space at its launch site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin/For chinadaily.com.cn]
Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Agency, said his agency will strive to make sure that the space station will be made best use of to advance space science, technology and application.
He said scientists will be able to use the facility's unique environment to perform mutation breeding, produce special medicines and create new materials, thus generating scientific, technological and economic benefits. "By now, 17 foreign nations have confirmed their participation in nine scientific tasks on our station and related work is proceeding well," Hao said. "Next, we will continue working with the UNOOSA to solicit proposals for future scientific collaborations."
A Long March-5B heavy-lift rocket is ready to send the core module of China's space station into the space at its launch site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin/For chinadaily.com.cn]
The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. China on Thursday sent into space the core module of its space station, kicking off a series of key launch missions that aim to complete the construction of the station by the end of next year. [Photo by Yuan Chen/For chinadaily.com.cn]
The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Tao Ran/For chinadaily.com.cn]
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