Heavenly Palace
Chinese Tiangong-3 space station goes operational
by Philippe Coué
Tiangong-3 is the culmination of 30 years of effort to provide China with a permanent orbital station. After "Shenzhou" and "Jing and Chen", "Heavenly Palace" is the third part of a books trilogy covering the whole Chinese manned space programme.
In "Heavenly Palace", Philippe Coué describes, mission after mission, the assembly and the first operational steps of the first large Chinese orbital station in permanent operation.
It was no secret that since the end of the 1990s, the Chinese wanted to build a modular station based on Mir, the Russian orbital infrastructure operated between 1986 and 2001. But this is a Chinese-style 're-innovation' of the functions of the Russian station. It is neither a copy nor an imitation: everything has been redesigned with 21st century equipment and for 21st century missions.
Within a decennial, the Middle Kingdom has joined the very select club of nations that know how to launch men into space and recover them. Today, China has far surpassed Russia in volume of space activities. It has become the world's second largest space power after the United States, and far ahead of Europe.
This book is essential reading to understand the stakes and Beijing's objectives for conquering the cosmos, with, in its sights, the second conquest of the Moon after that of low earth orbit.
Tiangong-3 will certainly be used to test elements of future solar power plants, a programme that has become a priority for Beijing. But its pressurised modules are also prototypes for the future lunar base that the Chinese want to build at the Moon's South Pole.
Summary
Meeting the Tianhe module
29 April 2021: a CZ-5B rocket launches the Tianhe module from the Wenchan launch pad. Despite some concerns about the drop point of the first stage, everything goes well and by the end of May, Tianhe is ready to receive the first taikonauts. An initial summary of the information available allows a more complete technical description of the orbital station module to be drawn up.
Start-up of Tianhe and first EVA
Before receiving its first occupants, Tiangong was visited by a Tianzhou freighter which delivered nearly 7 t of supplies. On 17 June 2021, the Shenzhou-12 crew docked with the space station. During the three-month mission, the three taikonauts had to carry out a busy programme: they had to continue "getting the station up and running", among other things with the help of the remote manipulator arm. On this occasion, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo performed the second Chinese spacewalk.
Tiangong acquires its working pace
Four days after the departure of its occupants, Tiangong received a new supply ship and a month later, on 15 October, Shenzhou-13 delivered the station's next three occupants for a five-and-a-half-month stay. On the programme: the transfer test of the future modules, two spacewalks, validation of the life support system and a very complete scientific programme. The programme also includes the proximity of a Russian anti-satellite launch and the celebration of the Chinese New Year.
Six taikonauts in orbit
After refuelling, it was the turn of Shenzhou-14 to join Tiangong, very quickly joined by Wentian, a module that provides a very comfortable living space for the orbital complex. After several taikonaut sorties, the Mengtian orbital laboratory is docked, further developing the station's scientific potential. On 29 November 2022, the fifteenth Shenzhou spacecraft took off for a "hot handover" and Tiangong found itself with six occupants. This was a great first for China, which completed the assembly phase of the permanent space station.
144 pages - A5