BEIJING: China’s space project aiming for a manned flight as well as the construction of a space station has entered a new stage. It is now ready to launch the core module of the space station, a cargo and refueling craft as well as a crewed mission into space, according to a statement released by China Manned Space Engineering Office on Thursday.
The successful launch of China’s Long March-5B carrier rocket in May 2020 inaugurated the “third step” of China’s manned space program, which is to assemble and operate a fully-functional space station around 2022.
As scheduled, a series of subsequent flight missions will be carried out to complete the construction of the space station and a national space laboratory. The station’s core module dubbed “Tianhe-1” and the Long March-5B rocket, which is tasked with the launch mission, are now at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province. The launch is slated for the first half of this year.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN News exchange item
