China launches first module of its new space station Unmanned module contains what is planned to become living quarters for crew
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People watch a Long March 5B rocket, carrying China’s Tianhe space station core module, as it lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China’s Hainan province on Thursday. Photograph: STR/AFP via Getty
China launched an unmanned module on Thursday containing what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent space station that it plans to complete by the end of 2022, state media reported.
The module, named “Tianhe” or “Harmony of the Heavens”, was launched on the Long March 5B, China’s largest carrier rocket, at 3.23am from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan.
China launches key module of planned space station thestarphoenix.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestarphoenix.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Chart: The Evolution Of Human Spaceflight 13/04/2021
Representative image: The Long March-5 Y5 rocket lifts off from Wenchang Space Launch Centre, China, November 2020. Photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang
Russia has been commemorating Yuri Gagarin’s achievements to mark the 60th anniversary of his historic space flight. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin launched in the Vostok 1 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome and orbited around the Earth for 108 minutes before safely landing in Southeastern Russia. The flight was a triumph for the Soviet Union, illustrated its technological prowess and kicked off the space age. Gagarin became a hero and is still one of the most admired figures in Russia to this day, the subject of countless statues, murals and artworks. Unfortunately, Gagarin was killed just seven years after his historic achievement when his MIG-15 jet crashed in mysterious circumstances.
China, Russia agree to build lunar research station » Borneo Bulletin Online borneobulletin.com.bn - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from borneobulletin.com.bn Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
China’s space agency released video footage from its spacecraft circling Mars on Friday, two days after it successfully entered the planet’s orbit in Beijing’s latest ambitious space mission. AFP/File
China s Tianwen 1 robotic probe entered the orbit above Mars polar regions on Monday, moving closer to the red planet, the China National Space Administration said.
The spacecraft activated its 3,000-Newton-thrust orbital-control engine at 5pm to conduct an orbital plane change maneuver to enter polar orbit with a perigee of about 265 kilometres above the red planet, the administration said in a brief statement.
Next, the probe will carry out several orbital adjustment operations to move itself into a parking orbit.