Beijing has launched the second cabin of its space station

China launched the second of three cabins of its under-construction space station into space today, according to images broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV.

The Wentian spacecraftweighing about 20 tons and without an astronaut, was launched by the Long March 5B launch vehicle at 14:22 (09:22 GMT) from the Wenchang Launch Center on the tropical island of Hainan (South).

Almost 18 meters long and 4.2 meters in diameter, this laboratory chamber will be attached to Tianhe, the station’s first chamber already in orbit from April 2021.

The business is a gamble because it requires a lot of high-precision manipulation, some of it with a robotic arm.

The new cubicle-laboratory, which has three sleeping areas, toilets and a kitchen, also has benches for scientific experiments.

Wentian will also serve as a support platform to control the space station in case of failure.

In Chinese Tiangong, but also known by its English acronym, GSS (“Chinese space station”), the space station is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.

After Wentian this weekend, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 mission, now aboard the space station, will welcome another laboratory chamber, Mengtian, in October.

The station will then have its final T-shaped form. It will resemble the former Russian Soviet station Mir. Its lifespan is expected to be at least 10 years.

China has been investing billions of euros in its space program for several decades.

The Asian country sent its first astronaut into space in 2003.

China sent a spacecraft to the far side of the Moon in 2019, in a world first. In 2020, China retrieved samples from the Moon and the following year landed a small robot on Mars.

China also plans to send humans to the moon by 2030.

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