China launches the second module of its international station

The second module of the "Heavenly Palace" powered by a Long March rocket in Hainan.

VIA REUTERS - CHINA DAILY

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The second module of the “Heavenly Palace” (“Tiangong”, in Chinese), the Chinese space station, was successfully launched on Sunday July 24.

The Long March rocket-powered craft took off from the tropical island of Hainan all the time.

He is expected up there by three taikonauts, who are going to play space mechanic.

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With our correspondent in Beijing,

The coconut palms tremble, the “oooohs” and the “ouaaaaa” of the invited public and the technical teams saturate on the images of the state media, slowly but surely the Long March 5B rocket tears itself from the ground to burst the sky.

A thick wall of white smoke then invaded the Wenchang launch pad, commensurate with the thrust needed to transport this second module called “Wentian”.

Eighteen meters long, 20 tons, 4.2 meters in diameter.

It is the heaviest of the three basic components of the future Chinese space station (CSS). 

Sleeping and cooking  

The three taikonauts of

, already installed in

, are waiting for a bedroom, a kitchen and a laboratory.

The machine will enlarge the living space of the station.

It has three beds, a toilet, a dining area and eight boxes – large cabinets the size of a fridge – intended for future scientific experiments, such as the study of the influence of microgravity. on cells, the crystallization of proteins or even the growth of plants and

.

A technical and mechanical challenge for China. 

In video: China's #Wentian, the first lab module of its space station, was successfully sent into space on Sunday via a Long March-5B Y3 carrier rocket pic.twitter.com/Coslv9eb6B

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) July 24, 2022

For the first time in Chinese space history, taikonauts, aided by a robotic arm, will indeed have to moor “Wentian” to the first

“Tianhe”

A gesture of precision to be carried out in orbit.

Other modules, including foreign ones, can then be hung, Lego-style from space, at the Chinese station, an expert told the

.

Starting with “

”, the third and last element of the station which should arrive during October, probably around the national holiday and the XXᵉ congress of the CPC.

The "Heavenly Palace" to be operational by the end of this year.

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