China successfully launched and docked a second module to its under-construction space station.
The 58.7-foot-long Wentian laboratory, attached to a Long March 5B rocket, took off Sunday from the country's Wenchang spaceport on the southern island of Hainan.
Using its own propulsion system, Wentian—which means "quest for the heavens"—connected with the first Tianhe module which was launched back in April 2021. The entire rendezvous and docking process lasted about 13 hours, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Wentian was designed to host a range of onboard experiments, provide backup life support and propulsion for Tianhe, and expand astronauts' working and living quarters. The second of three planned modules, it will be joined later this year by Mengtian, completing the T-shaped Tiangong space station. China intends to operate the floating lab for at least a decade, with crews of three astronauts completing six-month missions.
"China's largest carrying rocket today successfully launched the heaviest, longest, and arguably the most important craft in the country's space history," Li Dong, chief designer of the third March 5B rocket, told China Central Television, as reported by SpaceNews. "The mission was well fulfilled, which is very exciting and exhilarating."
This marks the project's eighth successful space station-related mission—including two modules, three cargo spacecraft, and a trio of crewed trips.
Following the successful launch and docking of Wentian, engineers now turn their attention to the fate of the Long March 5B rocket's large first stage, which, according to US Space Command, may not have actively deorbited following separation. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell also believes the rocket remains in active orbit.
It's unclear where or when the roughly 21-metric-ton container will re-enter Earth's atmosphere as atmospheric fluctuations like solar activity could change the rocket stage's path. Potentially this could lead to an uncontrolled descent like the one that dumped debris over West Africa's Ivory Coast in 2020. At the time, China's Long March 5B rocket became one of the largest human-made objects to make an unmanaged fall to Earth from space.