The last module needed to complete China’s Tiangong space station has been successfully attached to the core structure, state media say, a key step in Beijing’s ambitious plans for space exploration. China’s third and final module docked with its permanent space station early Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the China Manned Space Agency. The module – called Mengtian, meaning “heavenly dream” – was launched on Monday by a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang launch center on China’s tropical Hainan island, CCTV reported. Arrived at Tiangong Space Station at 4:27 AM. Beijing time on Tuesday (20:27 GMT on Monday). The entire process of launching and docking with the space station took about 13 hours and advances more than a decade-long effort by China to maintain a steady crew presence in orbit. Beijing’s completion of the station would mean “China is now an equal player in space with the United States, Russia and Europe,” independent Chinese space analyst Chen Lan told AFP. “It’s always good to see new players coming in,” he said. “… Competition will always accelerate innovation.” According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, the Mengtian Module, along with the Tianhe Core Module and the Wentian Laboratory Module, will form the basic T-shaped configuration of the space station. Together, they are known as the Tiangong, or ‘heavenly palace’. The Mengtian Laboratory Module on Tuesday successfully docked with China’s Tiangong Space Station Combine. It will enable more experiments, especially those that can only be done in a microgravity environment. #GLOBALink pic.twitter.com/t3UQvyuSxO — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 1, 2022 Tiangong Station is one of the crown jewels in Beijing’s well-funded space program, which has landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon and made the country only the third to put humans into orbit. China is racing to catch up with space powers, the United States and Russia. It has been barred from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, when Washington barred NASA from engaging with Beijing. Once completed, the Tiangong space station is expected to have a mass of 90 tons, about a quarter of the ISS, or similar in size to the Soviet Mir station, which orbited Earth from the 1980s to 2001. The China Manned Space Agency said the Tiangong is inhabited by three crew members or astronauts, including a woman. Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang arrived in early June for a six-month stay on board. They will complete assembly of the station, conduct spacewalks and conduct additional experiments. Following Mengtian’s arrival, an unpaid cargo ship Tianzhou is due to dock at the station next month. Another crewed mission is scheduled for December, so crews may overlap because Tiangong has enough space to accommodate six people. Next year, Beijing plans to launch the Xuntian Space Telescope with a field of view 350 times larger than that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
