BEIJING, July 24 (Reuters) – China launched the second of three modules to its permanent space station on Sunday, in one of the final missions needed to complete the outpost in orbit by the end of the year.
A live broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV showed the 23-tonne Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) laboratory module launching on the back of China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B, at 14:22 (0622 GMT) from Wenchang. Space Launch Center on South Hainan Island.
Space agency personnel, seen on live feed watching the launch’s progress from a control room, cheered and cheered as the Wentian separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after launch.
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The launch was “a complete success”, CCTV reported shortly afterwards.
China began building the space station in April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe Module, the main living quarters, in the first of the company’s 11 manned and unmanned missions.
A Y3 Long March-5B rocket, carrying the Wentian Laboratory Module for China’s space station under construction, lifts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province, China, on 24 July 2022. China Daily via REUTERS
The 17.9-meter (59-foot) long Wentian Laboratory Module will be where astronauts can conduct scientific experiments, along with the other yet-to-be-launched laboratory module, Mengtian (“Dream the heavens”).
Wentian has an isolation cabin that will be the main entry and exit point for extravehicular activities when the station is complete.
It will also serve as a short-term residence for astronauts during crew rotations to the station, designed for long-term housing of only three astronauts.
Mengtian is expected to launch in October and, like Wentian, will dock with Tianhe, forming a T-shaped structure.
The completion of the structure, about one-fifth of the International Space Station (ISS) in mass, is a source of pride among ordinary Chinese people and will end President Xi Jinping’s 10-year tenure as leader of the Communist Party of the china
Aboard the space station are Shenzhou-14 mission commander Chen Dong and his teammates Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe. They are scheduled to return to Earth in December with the arrival of the Shenzhou-15 crew. Read more
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Reporting by Ryan Woo and Martin Quin Pollard; Edited by William Mallard
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.