CHINA’S MODULAR SPACE STATION

The Tiangong (‘Heaven’s Palace’) program has been declared a top priority for the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) schedule this year. The three-module station will focus on research spanning astronomy, life sciences, material sciences and combustion. The nation is planning 11 missions in 2021 and 2022 to build the station, including three module launches, four Tianzhou cargo ship missions and four Shenzhou crewed missions.

The ambitious project is particularly impressive considering China began space exploration later than the US and Russia. We don’t know when China’s space program really started, as much of the program evolved largely in secret while it was under the joint control of the Chinese military and the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. In 1964 the space program was managed by the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building, which in 1983 became the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. In 1993 the CNSA was officially founded,