China finishes latest phase of construction work on Tiangong space station
- Work to move one of the station’s two laboratory modules into its final position has been completed successfully
- The second lab module is expected to be launched later this month
Chinese astronauts have successfully completed the latest phase of construction work on the Tiangong space station by moving one of its laboratory modules into its final position.
The three astronauts on board the Tiangong and engineers at the ground command centre worked together to conduct the hour-long operation – a first for the country’s space programme, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
Wei Zhi, an engineer from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, told The Beijing News that it was safer to dock the modules at the front at first and move them to the side later to reduce the risk that the heavy modules would unbalance the space station and cause it to “roll out of control”.
The Mengtian lab module and the Long March rocket that will carry it into space are already in place at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the southern island of Hainan.
A source familiar with the CMSA’s work said the launch was scheduled for the end of the month as all the assembly and testing were going “very smoothly”.