China has begun construction of their space station!
The core module of the Chinese Space Station launched on April 28th, 2021 (it was already April 29th in China). It was launched in a Long March 5B rocket from Wenchang launch site. The module is named Tianhe, and has 5 docking ports to allow for future modules and spacecraft . Tianhe also has many of the key life support systems, in addition to sleeping accommodations, among other things.
The Tianhe module will be visited by a Tianzhou cargo spacecraft in May, and the first crew will arrive in June. The Chinese Space Station will have the capacity to support up to 3 astronauts at a time for around 6 months. The 2 science modules, Wentian and Mengtian, will launch sometime in 2022.
China already has about a 100 science experiments planned, and also has a few experiments from different nations lined up. We now have 2 functional space stations in orbit the Chinese Space Station, and the ISS.
The Long March 5B
Tianhe was the second payload ever launched by the Long March 5B rocket, which will also launch the other modules of the space station next year. The Long March 5B is built by China Academy for Launch Vehicle Technology, a state owned corporation. The Long March 5B is different from most rockets because it does not have a second stage. The Long March 5 has 4 side boosters, which are powered by RP-1 and LOX. The boosters are attached to the much larger core stage, which is powered by liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
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