Three Chinese Taikonauts Fly To Tianhe To Complete Construction Of Tiangong Space Station

Tiga taikonauts China, Cai Xuzhe, Chen Dong, and Liu Yang sukses terbang ke Tianhe. (foto: dok.CMSA)

JAKARTA – Three Chinese taikonauts arrived at the Tianhe core module of the unfinished Tiangong space station on Sunday morning, June 5. They will stay for six months at the station to help complete its construction.

The trio flew on the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft which took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Saturday at 10:44 local time, and docked with Tianhe at 17:42 local time.

The three taikonauts are Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe, and Liu Yang, who initially made history as the first Chinese woman in space during the Shenzhou 9 mission in 2012. While they are in orbit, the crew is expected to perform several spacewalks and prepare the station for arrival. two additional lab modules. The two modules, Wentian will be launched next month and Mengtian in October.

As noted by Space.com, the two modules will attach to opposite sides of the Tianhe core module to create a “T”-shaped station that will be smaller in size than the International Space Station (ISS).

Reported by The Verge, China targets to complete construction of Tiangong by the end of this year, with the launch of the Xuntian telescope module scheduled for 2023. Shenzhou 14 is China's third crewed flight mission to the space station since the launch of the Tianhe module in April 2021.

This is the latest trio of taikonauts to join a crew of three Shenzhou 15s set to launch at the station towards the end of this year. This marks the first time the Chinese-owned station will accommodate six people.