30/04/2021 jalopnik.com 🇬🇧 #189036

La Chine réussit le placement en orbite du module central de sa station spatiale

China Launched The Core Module Of Its New Space Station

Earlier today, China put Tianhe, the core module of its new space station, into orbit. It's the 12th space station to be put into orbit (Salyuts 1 and 3 through 7, Mir,  Skylab, the ISS and the two Chinese small  Tiangong orbital labs) and will also mark the first time two separate operational space stations have been in orbit since Mir de-orbited in 2001.

China's space station appears  very much like a modernized version of the old Soviet-then-Russian Mir station, which was constructed with a core module that docked five additional modules directly, with ports open for visiting crew and resupply craft.

You can see the general similarities in design quite readily:

Screenshot: China Manned Space Agency

This isn't a bad thing at all; Mir was an extremely successful station, and China using it as a template - with significantly modernized systems throughout - makes a lot of sense.

 jalopnik.com

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