New Science Lab for China’s Space Station Launches On Long March 5B Eockethttps://mobile.twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1551091557734010882China’s heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket launched Sunday with the second major element of the Chinese Tiangong space station, sending the 25-ton Wentian science module on course for docking at the orbiting outpost.
The Wentian lab module was buttoned up in the nose cone of the Long March 5B rocket when it lifted off at 2:22:32 a.m. EDT (0622:32 GMT) Sunday from the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island, China’s southernmost province.
The launch marked the eighth flight of a Long March 5 rocket, the most powerful launcher in China’s inventory. It was the third flight of the Long March 5B configuration, which flies without an upper stage and is tailored to haul heavy payloads into low Earth orbit. The Long March 5B launcher’s lift capability to low Earth orbit is around 55,000 pounds, or 25 metric tons.
The ten engines pushed the Long March 5B rocket into the sky with 2.4 million pounds of thrust.
The Wentian module, measuring about 58.7 feet (17.9 meters) long, is fitted with mounting platforms to host science instruments and unpressurized experiments in the vacuum of space.
There are accommodations for life science and biological research racks inside the module’s pressurized volume, and the new module will add an airlock to support spacewalks outside the Tiangong space station.
The Wentian module, with a launch weight near 50,000 pounds (23 metric tons), will dock with the Tianhe core module on China’s Tiangong station in low Earth orbit later Sunday. Chinese astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe living on the Tiangong complex will monitor Wentian’s arrival, then become the first crew members to float into the station’s new module.
The massive Wentian module will unfurl solar panels to a span of about 180 feet (55 meters) tip-to-tip to produce its own electricity.
The arrival of the Wentian science lab will add the second of three large pressurized modules needed to complete the initial construction of the Tiangong station. The Tianhe core module launched on a Long March 5B rocket in April 2021, and Chinese ground teams are preparing the Mengtian module for launch on a Long March 5B rocket in October.
The Wentian module carries a small robotic arm designed for more precise movements than the larger arm positioned outside the Tianhe core module. Wentian’s arm will primarily be used to transfer experiments and other hardware outside the station.
