China had launched its second of the three modules on Sunday it was required to complete its new space station. Therefore, it would be considered as the latest step in Beijing’s ambitious space programme. The name of the uncrewed craft was Wentian, which got launched by a Long March 5B rocket at around 2:22 pm (0622 GMT) from the Wenchang launch centre on China's tropical island of Hainan.

HIGHLIGHTS
It is considered to be the latest step in Beijing’s ambitious space programme
Central module of space station Tiangong, means 'heavenly palace' in April 2021
Wentian would even serve as a backup platform to manage the space station

Well, after a quarter of an hour an official from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) had confirmed the launch was a complete 'success' for them.

Beijing had launched the central module of its space station Tiangong, which usually means 'heavenly palace' during April 2021.

Almost 18 metres (60 feet) long and weighing 22 tons (48,500 pounds), new module which generally constitutes of the three sleeping areas and specific space for scientific experiments.

It would dock with the present module in space, it is rather a challenging operation as per the experts which would require numeral high-precision manipulations along with the use of a robotic arm.

According to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 'This would be the first time when China had docked such massive vehicles altogether that could be a delicate operation.' He has also mentioned that till the next module arrives, the space platform would have a 'rather uncommon L-shape' which could take lots of power to make it stable. He added that 'These are all technical challenges that the USSR had pioneered with the Mir station during later 1980s, however it's new China.' 'But it would end in a more capable station with the space and power to carry out a lot of scientific experiments.'

Wentian would even serve as a backup platform to manage the space station within the event of a failure.

Well, in October the third and final module would be scheduled to dock. On the other hand, Tiangon which usually have a time period of at least of 10 years within which it had been expected to become totally operational by the end of the year.

Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country's plans for its heavily promoted 'space dream' have been placed into overdrive.

China has created massive strides in catching up with the US and Russia, where astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of expertise in area exploration.

As per Chen Lan, the analyst for the site Go-Taikonauts.com, that specialises in China's space programme 'The CSS (Chinese area Station) would complete its construction in one and half a year which would be considered as the quickest in history for any modular space station.' Whereas, 'in comparison the constructions of Mir and the International Space Station took almost 10 and 12 years respectively for the constructions.'

Also Read: China's Capsule Shenzhou 14 with three Astronauts will be launched in June