Europe 1 with AFP
modified to
9:49 a.m., October 31, 2022
China launched the last module of its Tiangong space station, currently under construction, on Monday. An important step for Beijing, which wishes to have a permanent presence in space.
China launched the last module of its under-construction Tiangong space station on Monday, according to footage from state broadcaster CCTV. This step should allow the Chinese station to be fully operational and to provide Beijing with a permanent presence in space. The module, dubbed Mengtian (“dream of the heavens”), was launched at 3:27 p.m. (0727 GMT) by a Long March 5B rocket from the tropical island of Hainan (south).
Mengtian is the third and final major component of the T-shaped Tiangong space station. Its assembly required a total of eleven missions. The last one on Monday should make it possible to transport cutting-edge scientific equipment. Tiangong must remain in low orbit, between 400 and 450 km above the Earth, for at least ten years, with the ambition of maintaining a long-term human presence in space. Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”), similar in size to the former Russian-Soviet Mir station, is expected to have a lifespan of at least 10 years.
The first Chinese on the Moon by 2030
Even if China does not plan international cooperation for its space station, Beijing has assured that it is open to foreign collaboration. China has been investing billions of euros in its space program for several decades. China’s ambition to build a space station has been fueled in part by the United States’ refusal to accept Chinese in the International Space Station (ISS) program, a collaboration between the United States, Russia, the Canada, Europe and Japan.
The Asian giant sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. The country landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon in 2019, a world first. In 2020, China brought back samples from the Moon and landed a small robot on Mars the following year. China plans to put men on the moon by 2030.