Advertisement
Space
ChinaScience

China begins tests for launch of space station module on Long March-5B rocket

  • China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation says Tianhe unit will become foundation of permanent manned presence above Earth

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
An artist’s impression shows China’s space station with Tianhe module at its heart and home to a permanent crew in Earth orbit. Photo: Handout
Liu Zhen
China will press on with work on a permanent space station after the core module and carrier rocket for the vehicle arrived at the launch site for rehearsals and preparation, the developer said on Tuesday.
The Tianhe module was recently transported to the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on the southern Chinese island of Hainan for three months of trials with a Long March-5B rocket, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said on its WeChat social media account.

The trials were designed to simulate the launch procedure, test the rocket and the operation of the module, with the goal of “laying a solid foundation for the formal mission”.

Advertisement

China’s next-generation manned spaceship – a successor to the Shenzhou series that first went into orbit in 1999 – would go straight into pre-launch preparations as the payload for the 5B’s first carrier mission in the first half of this year, CASC said.

That would be an unmanned operation, it said, without revealing a date for the launch.

Advertisement

The space station was originally planned to be completed by this year, but the Tianhe module is now expected to be launched in 2021 on a 5B rocket.

Once complete, Tianhe and its other modules will form the only alternative to the International Space Station, from which China has been excluded by the United States.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x