Tiangong Space Station: Chinese space station in low Earth orbit
The Tiangong space station is a space station in Low Earth orbit.
The space station belongs to China's space program. As of 2024, the space station has astronauts.
 A drawing of the Chinese Space Station | |
| Station statistics |
|---|
It will be made up of several modules (parts) that need to be put together in space. The first module is called Tianhe. It was launched on 28 April 2021. It will take about 11 total launches to build the station. It is the third station by China, after Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2.
Tiangong means sky palace.
Structure
The station will be built from several parts. These are shown in the diagram below.
| Solar array | Solar array | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Solar array | Solar array | Docking port | Solar array | Solar array | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wentian laboratory | Tianhe service module | Mengtian laboratory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Solar array | EVA hatch | Docking port | Docking port | Solar array | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Use
China plans to do a number of experiments on the station. Other nations will also use the space station. These include Italy which has made a long-term agreement with China to work together on spaceflight. The University of Oslo in Norway is going to use the station for cancer research.
Missions
- Key
Past
| Launch date | Spacecraft | Launch vehicle | Launch pad | Launched by | Where it docked at the station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 April 2021 | Tianhe | Long March 5B | Wenchang LC-1 | CASC | N/A |
Scheduled
All dates are UTC and may change.
| Launch date (NET) | Spacecraft | Launch vehicle | Launch pad | Launching by | Where it will dock at the station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May 2021 | Tianzhou 2 | Long March 7 | Wenchang LC-2 | CASC | Tianhe aft |
| 10 June 2021 | Shenzhou 12 | Long March 2F | Jiuquan SLS-1 | CASC | Tianhe forward |
| September 2021 | Tianzhou 3 | Long March 7 | Wenchang LC-2 | CASC | Tianhe aft |
| October 2021 | Shenzhou 13 | Long March 2F | Jiuquan SLS-1 | CASC | Tianhe forward |
| March–April 2022 | Tianzhou 4 | Long March 7 | Wenchang LC-2 | CASC | Tianhe aft |
| May 2022 | Shenzhou 14 | Long March 2F | Jiuquan SLS-1 | CASC | Tianhe forward |
| May–June 2022 | Wentian | Long March 5B | Wenchang LC-1 | CASC | Tianhe |
| August–September 2022 | Mengtian | Long March 5B | Wenchang LC-1 | CASC | Tianhe |
| October 2022 | Tianzhou 5 | Long March 7 | Wenchang LC-2 | CASC | Tianhe aft |
| November 2022 | Shenzhou 15 | Long March 2F | Jiuquan SLS-1 | CASC | Tianhe |
References
Other websites
- Chinese Space Agency website
- How to (say or) pronounce Tiangong 天宫. How To Say (at YouTube.com)
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