Last month, China released panoramic images showing the full structure of its Tiangong space station for the first time.
The photographs were taken by an astronaut from above the Tiangong space station. The pictures mark a historic moment in the country’s three-decade crewed space programme.
The images show the symmetry of the space station’s design. Its core module, Tianhe, is at the centre, and two laboratory modules, Mengtian and Wentian, are docked at either side, each with a pair of solar panels spanning 55 metres. The three modules were launched separately and assembled in orbit.
Tiangong has more than half of the International Space Station’s capacity for experiments, and Tiangong has a more spacious environment for astronauts.
In the coming years, senior Chinese space officials have said the country plans to expand the Tiangong from a three-module, T-shaped structure to a six-module, cross-shaped one.
