Tiangong-2

Tiangong-2 (Chinese: 天宫二号; pinyin: Tiāngōng èrhào; literally: "Heavenly Palace 2") is a Chinese space laboratory and part of the Project 921-2 space station program. Tiangong-2 was launched on 15 September 2016, 22:04:09 (UTC+8).[6]

Tiangong-2 is neither designed nor planned to be a permanent orbital station; rather, it is intended as a testbed for key technologies that will be used in China's large modular space station, which is planned for launch in 2023.[7]

Contents

1 History 2 Dimensions 3 See also 4 References

History
The China Manned Space Engineering Office published a brief description of Tiangong-2 and its successor Tiangong-3 in 2008, indicating that at least two crewed spaceships would be launched to dock with Tiangong-2.[1]

Tiangong-2 was originally expected to be launched by the China National Space Agency by 2015[8] to replace the prototype module Tiangong-1, which was launched in September 2011.[9] In March 2011, Chinese officials stated that Tiangong-2 was scheduled to be launched by 2015,[10][8] following the deorbit of Tiangong-1. An uncrewed cargo spacecraft will dock with the station,[8] allowing for resupply.[11]

In September 2014, its launch was pushed to September 2016.[12] Plans for visits in October 2016 by the crewed mission Shenzhou 11 and the uncrewed resupply craft Tianzhou were made public.[13] The station was successfully launched from Jiuquan aboard a Long March 2F rocket on 15 September 2016.[14]

Dimensions
The dimensions of Tiangong-2 are: Crew size: 2, with 30 days of life support resources.[10] The crew (from Shenzhou 11, October 2016) will consist of two astronauts. Length: 10.4 metres (34 ft).[1] Maximum diameter: 4.2 metres (14 ft).[1] Mass: 8,600 kilograms (19,000 lb).[3]