News

At 15:37 on October 31, 2022 (Beijing time), the Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket that is to propel the space station Mengtian lab module was launched on time at Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in China. About 8 minutes later, the Mengtian lab module was smoothly separated from the rocket and entered the preset orbit, with a complete success. The Mengtian lab module is the third module of the space station and also the second module for scientific experiments. It is composed of working module, load module, cargo airlock module and resource module, with the takeoff weight of about 23 tons. It is mainly used for space science and application experiments, and the management of the space station assembly. The cargo airlock module permits the automatic cargo in-and-out transport, providing support for scientific experiments inside and outside the module.

Later, the Mengtian lab module will rendezvous and dock with the space station assembly according to the predetermined procedures. After the completion of relevant functional tests, it'll be transposed as planned, and the Shenzhou-14 crew has been ready to greet the Mengtian lab module. It's been the 25th flight mission and also the 446th flight of Long March series carrier rockets since the Manned Space Program was initiated.