China has sent another spaceship into space with material for its new space station. A “Long March 7” rocket with the cargo ship “Tianzhou 3” (Heavenly Ship) took off on Monday from the “Wenchang” spaceport on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Ready for occupancy from next year
The “Tiangong” (Heavenly Palace) space station currently under construction, which so far only consists of the “Tianhe” (Heavenly Harmony) module, should be completed by 2022. Until then, China wants to bring two laboratory modules, each weighing a good 20 tons, into space.
It was not until Friday that the first manned crew returned from the space station to Earth after three months. Astronauts are expected to be sent again in October to continue the work.
If the international space station ISS goes out of operation as planned in the next few years, China would be the only country that still operates a permanent outpost in space. Chinese astronauts were not allowed to participate in missions on the ISS at the urging of the USA.
(mho)
