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With a rocket of the type “Long March 5B”, “Tianhe” - the first module of the Chinese space station - is launched from the Wenchang space station into space
Photo: Ju Zhenhua / dpa
China has started building its own space station.
A rocket of the type "Long March 5B" launched on Thursday with the core module of the space station from the Wenchang space station on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
The 22-ton module "Tianhe" (Heavenly Harmony) is to form the main part of the space station, which is to be completed "around 2022".
Ten minutes after launch, the module successfully separated from the missile, which triggered loud applause in the control center.
A little later, "Tianhe" also reached its predetermined orbit, as reported by the Chinese state media.
China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang watched the launch from the Beijing Space Center.
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Model of the planned Chinese space station in the Science and Technology Museum in Beijing
Photo: TINGSHU WANG / REUTERS
Almost three decades after the first plans to build a Chinese space station, the young space travel nation begins to fulfill its dream of its own outpost in space.
"In general, a space station demonstrates the breadth of space technology in a country," said the former German astronaut Reinhold Ewald, now a professor at the University of Stuttgart, the German Press Agency.
Three spaceships can dock at the same time
"Tianhe" is 16.60 meters long and 4.20 meters in diameter. It is the largest spaceship China has ever built. Three spaceships can dock at the same time - two even for longer periods of time. The core module provides power and propulsion. It offers accommodation for three astronauts who can stay on board for up to six months. Two similarly sized parts for scientific experiments are to be attached in a T-shape.
In the coming weeks, two more space flights are to follow one after the other.
In May the cargo spacecraft "Tianzhou 2" could dock with fuel and supplies.
Three astronauts are also preparing to fly to "Tianhe" on board "Shenzhou 12", possibly in June.
The construction phase requires a tight flight plan: a total of eleven flights are planned - three flights with modules, four cargo missions and four manned space flights.
If the obsolete International Space Station (ISS) goes out of service as planned in the coming years, China would be the only nation with a permanent outpost in space.
Because of US concerns, China was not invited to participate in the international space station.
China's space station, which will end up being called »Tiangong« (Heavenly Palace), will be less than half the size of the ISS with 240 tons.
"Sky Palace" is more comparable to the former Russian space station "Mir", say experts.
Although the ISS has already been criticized as too big, it said that size offers more space for research, for astronauts and more safety in emergencies.
"It doesn't get threatening straight away on the ISS, but you can cut off a part and calmly see how you can master the situation," says the former German astronaut Reinhold Ewald, now a professor at the University of Stuttgart.
“The system is more stable because of its size.
There is more redundancy, more systems that can stand up for one another. ”There is also more space and options for complex research projects and the accommodation of other astronauts.
In addition to scientific experiments in weightlessness, in a vacuum and under radiation, "Tiangong" offers the Chinese space program new possibilities to meet the necessary requirements for further missions into the depths of space.
"You can test how people can advance into space and what you still need on the way to the moon or Mars," says Ewald, who was on board the "Mir" in 1997 and later in charge of the flights of European colleagues to the ISS from the ground has supported.
The space station could be used to develop better living conditions in space and new systems for further missions.
With its two previous space laboratories, "Tiangong 1" and "Tiangong 2", China has slowly worked its way up to the complex project that was first specifically envisaged in 1992 in the planning for the space program.
In addition to rendezvous and refueling maneuvers, the first Chinese space walks were practiced during the flights.
The construction of the space station was actually supposed to start earlier, but problems with the new, particularly powerful launcher caused delays.
For this purpose, the program has now been condensed in order to be completed in 2022, as originally planned.
What are the US and Russia planning?
While Russia and the US are discussing what to do with the ISS, both are thinking of their own new outposts in space.
The Russian space agency Roskosmos would like to have its own station in orbit around the earth in 2030, while NASA has its eyes on the moon.
The US station, known as the "gateway", is supposed to orbit the earth's satellite and provide support for a "long-term return of humans to the surface of the moon" and a basis for exploring deeper space.
According to NASA, the first components could not be brought into space until 2024 at the earliest.
oka / AFP / dpa