As reported by state broadcaster CCTV, the module Mengtian about “Heavenly Dreams” in German should bring them to the space station, about 400 kilometers from Earth.
The Tiangong space station, whose name means “Heaven’s Palace,” should be in operation for at least ten years. It’s part of the People’s Republic of China’s ambitious space strategy to catch up with the US and Russia. To this end, it has invested billions in space programs in recent years.
In 2003, China sent its first astronaut into space, and in 2019 it brought an unmanned spacecraft to the far side of the moon. In 2020, a Chinese lunar probe collected rock samples from Earth’s moon, and in 2021 a Mars robot from the People’s Republic landed on the red planet. The Chinese government plans to send humans to the moon for the first time in 2029.
(SDA)