China's Space Station Mission to Enter New Stage

Tianhe, the core module of China's space station, the Tianzhou 2 cargo spaceship and the core scientific capsule, have passed technical and quality assessments, marking the start of a new stage in China's space station program.

Development, manufacture and testing of the Tianhe core module and the Tianzhou 2 cargo spaceship were contracted by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and all functional performances have met the overall program requirements.

The core scientific capsule has completed ground research and match testing.

The core module and capsule are scheduled to be launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province in first half year of 2021. The Tianzhou 2 cargo spaceship and Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft will be launched later to carry out rendezvous and docking and key in-orbit technical verification.

According to China's space station program, 11 flights to launch space station modules, cargo spaceships and manned spacecraft will be conducted in 2021 and 2022 and in-orbit construction of the space station is expected to be completed in 2022.

A sketch image of China's space station [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)