China Begins Assembly of New Space Station with Successful Long March 5B Launch
takyon writes:
Assembly of Chinese space station begins with successful core module launch
Chinese officials confirmed the successful launch of the first element of the country's space station early Thursday, laying the keystone to a permanently-inhabited orbiting habitat that could welcome its first astronauts this summer.
The liftoff of the Tianhe core module begins the most ambitious project in the history of China's nearly 30-year human spaceflight program, which seeks to create a national space station after being shut out of the International Space Station, led by U.S. and Russian space agencies.
China's Tianhe space station core module rode a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket into orbit after liftoff at 11:23:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0323:15 GMT; 11:23:15 a.m. Beijing time Thursday).
Also at NASASpaceFlight.
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