The Long March 5B rocket successfully launched the Mengtian experimental module! China's Tiangong is just around the corner

At 15:37 on October 31, 2022, the Mengtian Experimental Module of the Chinese Space Station, the heaviest and largest spacecraft to date, was lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center by the Long March 5B carrier rocket. Subsequently, the Mengtian Experimental Module entered orbit accurately, and the launch mission was a complete success.

Video: The Long March 5B carrier rocket lifts the Mengtian experimental module into space (Photo: China Aerospace News reporter Su Dong)

The Long March 5B carrier rocket lifts the Mengtian experimental module into space (Photo: China Aerospace News reporter Su Dong)

The Long March 5B carrier rocket lifts the Mengtian experimental module into space (Photo: China Aerospace News reporter Su Dong)

The Mengtian experimental module will complete docking with the Tianhe core module of the space station and perform transfer operations. By then, the Tianhe core module, the Wentian experimental module and the Mengtian experimental module will form the basic "T" configuration of the Chinese space station on the same plane.

The three astronauts of Shenzhou XIV, Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, welcomed the arrival of "Mengtian" at the space station. The Mengtian experimental module is 17.88 meters long, 4.2 meters in diameter, and has a launch mass of about 23 tons. It consists of a working module, a cargo airlock module, a payload module, and a resource module. It uses large-area retractable flexible solar cell wings to provide energy, and uses module segment transfer technology to achieve on-orbit construction and assembly of the space station. It has the function of automatic entry and exit of payloads and the release of micro-aircraft. The configured exposure platform can enhance the space station's support capacity for payloads.

Imaginary picture of the on-orbit assembly of the Mengtian experimental module (photo provided by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)

The Mengtian laboratory module can provide astronauts with approximately 32 cubic meters of working and activity space, and provide 13 in-cabin experimental cabinets and 37 extravehicular standard load workstations to support application missions.

In accordance with the core design concept of the space station "1+1+1=1", the three cabins will eventually realize grid-connected management of control, energy, information, environment and other functions, carry out larger-scale space research experiments and new technology experiments, and promote my country's space science research and application to reach the world's leading level.

The Long March 5B rocket is currently China's rocket with the largest low-Earth orbit carrying capacity and is mainly used to launch large spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.

This launch is the 446th launch of the Long March series of launch vehicles.