China’s Wentian space lab docks with Tiangong station core module
- Lab for science and biology experiments docked with Tianhe core module 13 hours after lift-off from southern China
- It will soon play a role in the most challenging mission in China’s manned space flight history – a transitional assembly

The Long March-5B rocket carrying Wentian had lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport in Hainan on Sunday afternoon, and spent about eight minutes in flight before entering orbit, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A total module length of 17.9 metres (59 feet), diameter of 4.2 metres and launch weight of about 20 tonnes (23 tonnes), make Wentian “the largest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever built”, Xinhua reported Liu Gang, deputy chief designer of the China Academy of Space Technology, as saying.
It is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in orbit. By comparison, Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope and the largest spy satellites are just about half that weight.

Wentian consists of a working module, an airlock module and a resource module, and carries eight experiment cabinets as well as 22 extravehicular payload adaptors over its hull.
The docking process at the front port was overseen by the three astronauts aboard Tianhe core module, marking Tiangong’s first spacecraft visit in a manned state and taking the under-construction station one step closer to completion.