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Beijing (AFP) – China on Monday launched the third and final part of the space station it is building, according to live footage broadcast on public television, “CCTV”.
This phase would allow China’s Tiangong Space Station (Celestial Palace) to be fully operational and would provide a permanent presence in Beijing in space.
The part, called “Mengtian” (Dream of the Heavens), was launched at 15:27 local time (0727 GMT) by a Long March 5B rocket from the tropical island of Hainan in southern China.
Mengtian is the third and final main section of Tiangong T-shaped foreign station.
Assembling the station required 11 tasks.
The mission of the two will allow the transport of advanced operational equipment.
The station will remain in a low orbit between 400 and 450 kilometers above Earth for at least ten years, with the stated goal of maintaining a long-term human presence in space.
Although China does not expect international cooperation on its space station, Beijing has stressed that it is open to cooperation with foreign parties.
China has invested several billion dollars in its space program for decades.
China’s ambition to build a space station has been reinforced in part by the United States’ refusal to participate in the International Space Station program, in which the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan are collaborating.
China sent its first astronaut to space in 2003.
In 2019, Beijing launched a spacecraft that landed on the dark side of the moon, setting a global precedent.
In 2020, China transferred samples from the moon and even launched a small probe to Mars.
China plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.
© 2022 AFP
