China’s Tiangong Space Station, photographed from the Shenzhou spacecraft
manned space in china
China’s Tiangong Space Station has been photographed in its entirety for the first time. This dizzying photo was taken from the Shenzhou spacecraft as it returned to Earth after delivering three crew members to the space station.
Tiangong is fully operational with its third and final module, Mengtian, installed late last year. This module at the top of the image and his Wentian at the bottom are both laboratory modules. The Tianhe module, in the center of the photo, contains astronaut quarters and a docking hub.
The main purpose of the space station is scientific research. The China Manned Space Administration has approved more than 1,000 experiments to be carried out in microgravity on questions such as how plants grow and how fluids flow in space. The three Chinese astronauts currently on the space station are scheduled to arrive in late October and stay there for six months.
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