China is working towards completion of its first permanent orbiting station. The Chinese Space Station will be approximately one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station at 80-100 tons. Under the China Natinoal Space Agency’s timetable, it will be launched into low-Earth orbit later this year. The station’s core module, Tianhe, could be launched as early as April, according to CNSA and international observers. Last month, the heavy-lift Long March-5B Y2 and its payload were moved into place at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province. Assembly and testing work is continuing on the launch vehicle.
The launch will mark the first of 11 CNSA missions over the next two years, to finish constructing the space station by the end of 2022. Two more modules; four Tianzhou cargo supply missions, and four Shenzhou crewed missions will be launched following the core module launch. The core module also has docking stations to permit the attachment of modules for experimentation at a later stage. The CNSA has released details of 12 astronauts now in training for these missions, including men, women, newcomers and Shenzhou veterans. As many as three astronauts at a time will live in the core module. The space station will permit stays of up to six months, similar to the ISS.
