Tiangong

Mission Profile

Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) is China's permanent modular space station, with its core Tianhe module launched on 29 April 2021 aboard a Long March 5B, followed by the Wentian and Mengtian experiment modules in 2022 to complete a T-shaped three-module configuration. The 100-tonne station supports a permanent crew of three taikonauts on six-month rotation missions, with the capability to expand to accommodate six crew members during crew handovers. China completed the station's construction in October 2022, becoming only the third entity after the Soviet/Russian Mir and the ISS program to operate a multi-module crewed space station. Tiangong hosts international scientific experiments and China plans to invite foreign astronauts to visit, positioning the station as China's primary platform for space science and human spaceflight ambitions through the 2030s.