China launches space mission to complete construction of Tiangong station

The Long March 2F launch vehicle with mission participants on board the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft

launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 5, 2022year at 10:44 Beijing time (5:44 Moscow time). It is reported that the ship successfully separated from the launch vehicle and entered the desired orbit. The docking of Shenzhou-14 with the Tiangong space station should take place around noon Moscow time.

One of the key tasks of the space mission iscomplete the assembly of Tiangong. Now only the base module "Tianhe" ("Harmony of heaven and earth") is in orbit. According to the plan, the two remaining modules, Wentian (Searching for Heaven) and Mengtian (Dreams of Heaven), will be launched into orbit in July and October.

When these modules dock with the orbitalstation, the crew will need to use a large robotic arm to move the modules from the docking gateway to the side ones, where they will be located. The success of these missions will mark the completion of the T-shaped space station.

Three astronauts are expected to spend on board"Tiangong" for six months and in December will transfer the station to the trio of the crew of "Shenzhou-15". This will be the first time that a post has been "handed over" on the Chinese space station. The two previous missions were completed before the arrival of new astronauts, leaving the station uninhabited for several months.

Cover image: Shujianyang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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