Tiangong 1. China's first space station.
Tiangong 1 (eng. Heavenly Palace 1), the first Chinese space laboratory
module and a prototype space station, was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on September 29, 2011 at 13:16 UT by a Chang Zheng 2F rocket. The module served as both a crewed laboratory and an
experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and
docking capabilities and to accumulate the experience for the
construction, management and operation of a space station.
Tiangong 1 weighed approximately 8,506 kg and measured
10.4 m long with a diameter of 3.35 m. The module had a
pressurised habitable volume of approximately 14.4 cubic
metres, and used passive APAS-type docking connectors.
Structurally, Tiangong 1 was divided into two primary
sections: a resource module, which mounted its solar panels
and propulsion systems, and a larger, habitable experimental
module. Tiangong 1's experimental module was equipped with
exercise gear and two sleep stations. The interior walls of
the spacecraft had a two-color paint scheme – one color
representative of the ground, and the other representative of
the sky. This was intended to help the astronauts maintain
their orientation in zero gravity. High-resolution interior
cameras allowed crewed missions to be closely monitored from
the ground, and the two sleep stations had individual lighting
controls. Toilet facilities and cooking equipment for the
crewed missions were provided by the docked Shenzhou
spacecraft, rather than being integrated into the Tiangong
module itself. Similarly, one member of the module's
three-person crew slept in the Shenzhou spacecraft, preventing
overcrowding.
Tiangong 1 was visited by three Shenzhou spacecraft
during its two-year operational lifetime. The first of these,
the uncrewed Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module
in November 2011, while the crewed Shenzhou 9 mission docked
in June 2012. A third and final mission to Tiangong 1, the
crewed Shenzhou 10, docked in June 2013. The crewed missions
to Tiangong 1 were notable for including China's first female
astronauts, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping.
On March 21, 2016, after a lifespan extended by two
years, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced
that Tiangong 1 had officially ended its service. They went on
to state that the telemetry link with Tiangong 1 had been
lost. A couple of months later, amateur satellite trackers
watching Tiangong 1 found that China's space agency had lost
control of the station. Tiangong 1 reentered the Earth's
atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean on April 2, 2018.
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