China expands space station

The Chinese space station Tiangong received an additional module. It is a laboratory. The first module of the space station was put into orbit in April last year. The mission is scheduled to last at least ten years.

China has added the first of two planned laboratory modules to its Tiangong orbital space station, Chinese state media reports. It's a major milestone for Beijing's human space program, which the country has had to pursue alone after being banned from the International Space Station.

The laboratory module, named Wentian ("Searching for Heaven"), successfully docked with the front port of the Tianhe core module at 3:13 a.m. Beijing time Monday, about 13 hours after launch on Sunday. This was announced by the China Manned Space Agency, according to Xinhua.

Three Chinese astronauts, currently on a six-month orbiting mission aboard the Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"), have overseen the arrival and docking but have yet to board the new module. The trio, consisting of Commander Chen Dong and taikonauts Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, are part of the Shenzhou-14 mission, during which the Chinese space station will receive another module and become fully operational.

The 23-ton Wentian module is around 18 meters long and has a diameter of 4.2 meters. It is primarily designed as a platform for scientific experiments in the fields of ecology, biotechnology and gravity, but will also offer additional sleeping accommodation for the crew and an additional toilet and kitchen. According to CGTN, the spacecraft also brought an additional robotic arm, smaller than the one already installed on Tiangong and designed for more precise and delicate operations.

The station's first core module was launched into orbit last April, while the third module, dubbed Mengtian ("Dreaming of Heaven"), is scheduled for launch in October 2022. With the addition of these two segments, Tiangong will officially be fully operational, weighing around 66 tons, about half that of the Soviet Mir, which to date was the first and only continuously inhabited multimodal station developed and operated by a single state.

The Tiangong's mission is expected to last more than a decade. However, China has not ruled out that the service life could be extended and the initial three-module configuration expanded to six in the future.

China is not involved in the International Space Station (ISS) program because US law prohibits NASA from working directly with the Beijing government or organizations linked to China. This is out of fear of espionage and technology theft by the country's military -- despite Beijing's assurances that the ISS is for peaceful purposes only.

Beijing, on the other hand, has invited foreign astronauts to join the mission aboard the space station and conduct research alongside the crew. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in April that China is "ready to cooperate with all nations".