The Chinese Space Agency has successfully launched the Wentian module into space. This launch completes the construction of China's giant space station, Tianhe.
People watch the launch of the Long March-5B Y3 rocket at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China July 24, 2022. The rocket was carrying a lab module for the Chinese space station Wentian.
Seconds of the Long March-5B Y3 rocket as it launches. China successfully launched Wentian, the first laboratory module of its space station on Sunday (24/7/2022).
The new module will serve as a backup core module and a robust scientific experiment platform.
Residents flocked to watch from a distance. According to Liu Gang, Deputy Head of Space Station Systems Designer of the China Manned Space Program at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, the Wentian module has a length of 17.9 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters and a take-off mass of 23 tons.
Hundreds of residents captured this historic moment with their smartphone cameras. The Wentian module consists of a work cab, an airlock cab and a power cab.
The Long March-5B Y3 rocket, carrying Wentian, took off at 2:22 p.m. Beijing time. About 495 seconds later, Wentian separated from the rocket and entered its planned orbit.
Construction of China's Tiangong space station is expected to be completed this year. The station will evolve from a single-module structure into a national space laboratory with three modules, consisting of a core module, namely Tianhe, and two laboratory modules, namely Wentian and Mengtian.
The boost rocket spewed out fire and smoke at full power at an incredible speed. Later, the Wentian module will undergo a rendezvous and docking process with the combination of the space station according to the scheduled procedure, and the Shenzhou-14 astronauts will enter Wentian to carry out relevant work.