According to the reports of AFP News Agency citing state media, China on Sunday launched the second of the three space station modules.
China was expected to launch the second module for its Tiangong space station on July 24 from the Wenchang spaceport in south China.
According to Space.com, The Wentian module will launch on board the huge Long March 5B rocket and should join up with the Chinese space station’s Tianhe core module hours later, expanding the country’s crewed space research facility.
“Wentian is both a science module and an area to expand the living space aboard the small space station. It includes experiment cabinets for performing science work, along with more astronaut sleeping quarters to allow crew handovers. Once the module is ready, Tiangong will be able to host temporarily as many as six crew members,” a source as per Space.com.
The 174-foot (53-meter tall) Long March 5B is a Chinese heavy-lift rocket variant designed to launch China’s space station modules, which each have a mass of about 48,500 pounds (22,000 kg).
