China begins building its own space station with launch of control module
China launched the first module of a planned space station on Wednesday. The Chinese space agency hopes to complete the sophisticated research lab in 2022, securing its
status as a space superpower with long-duration orbital expeditions by three-person crews.
While smaller than the sprawling International Space Station, built by the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada, the Chinese Space Station, or CSS, will focus on the same objectives, including microgravity research, Earth observation and technology development.
At least 10 more launches are planned over the next two years to put at least two additional 20-ton research modules in orbit, to deliver supplies and, as early as this summer, astronaut crews, eventually giving the Chinese an operational space station of their own with a mass of more than 60 tons.
Officials expect the project to take a couple years, but launch of the control module is a major step for China's increasingly sophisticated space program.
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en.wikipedia.org
The Long March-5B Y2 launch vehicle launched the Tianhe Core Module, the first component of the China Space Station, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, Hainan Province, China, on 29 April 2021, at 03:23 UTC (11:23). The Tianhe Core Module (天和核心舱) is the first component of the China Space Station (中国空间站), China’s new space station intended for long-term habitation. Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Rocket debris from China's space station launch is falling back to Earth — but where?
By
Elizabeth Howell 1 day ago
The Long March 5B rocket's core stage could fall from space any day now.
The Long March 5B rocket carrying the core module of China's space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29, 2021. (Image credit: Hua Jiajun/VCG/Getty)
A large Chinese rocket is set to make an uncontrolled reentry back into Earth's atmosphere, but it is not yet clear exactly where or when the debris will hit our planet.
China's Long March 5B rocket is "unpredictably" falling back to Earth after launching a part of the new
T-shaped Chinese space station on Thursday local time in Wenchang,
according to SpaceNews. The 22.5-metric-ton Tianhe space station module is in its correct orbit after separating as planned from the core stage of the rocket, which is now expected to re-enter in a few days or about a week.
"It will be one of the largest instances of uncontrolled reentry of a spacecraft and could potentially land on an inhabited area," SpaceNews said. That said, the more likely possibility is the core stage will fall in an uninhabited place like Earth's oceans, which cover 70% of the planet. The odds of a particular individual being hit by space debris are exceedingly low, once
estimated at 1 in several trillion.
Long March 5B is doing 27,600km/h in failing orbit, with eventual crash site unknown, after launching space station hub
www.theguardian.com
The Long March 5B rocket's core stage could fall from space any day now.
www.space.com