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Tiangong-1

Tiangong-1 Target Vehicle
天宫一号目标飞行器
Tiangong 1 drawing (cropped).png
Plan diagram of Tiangong-1 with its solar panels extended
Station statistics
COSPAR ID 2011-053A
Crew 3
Launch 29 September 2011 at 21:16:03.507 CST
Carrier rocket Long March 2F/G
Launch pad Jiuquan LA-4/SLS-1
Mission status Retired, on orbit
Mass 8,506 kg (18,753 lb)
Length 10.4 m (34.1 ft)
Diameter 3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Pressurised volume 15 m3 (530 cu ft)
Perigee 363 kilometres (226 mi)
Apogee 381 kilometres (237 mi)
Orbital inclination 42.77 degrees
Orbital period 91.85 minutes
Orbit epoch 25 January 2015
Days in orbit 1959
(as of 8 February)
Number of orbits 19090
Statistics as of September 19, 2016
Tiangong-1
Simplified Chinese 天宫一号
Traditional Chinese 天宮一號
Literal meaning Heavenly Palace-1 or Sky Palace-1
Target Vehicle
Simplified Chinese 目标飞行器
Traditional Chinese 目標飛行器
Literal meaning Target Vehicle

Tiangong-1 (Chinese: 天宫一号; pinyin: Tiāngōng yīhào; literally: "Heavenly Palace 1") is China's first prototype space station, serving as both a manned laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities. Launched unmanned aboard a Long March 2F/G rocket on 29 September 2011, it is the first operational component of the Tiangong program, which aims to place a larger, modular station into orbit by 2023. Tiangong-1 was initially projected to be deorbited in 2013, to be replaced over the following decade by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 modules, but as of October 2016 it was still aloft, though in a decaying orbit.

Tiangong-1 was visited by a series of Shenzhou spacecraft during its two-year operational lifetime. The first of these, the unmanned Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module in November 2011, while the manned Shenzhou 9 mission docked in June 2012. A third and final mission to Tiangong-1, the manned Shenzhou 10, docked in June 2013. The manned missions to Tiangong-1 were notable for including China's first female astronauts, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping.

On 21 March 2016, after two years of extended lifespan, the Space Engineering Office announced that Tiangong-1 had officially ended its service. They went on to state that the telemetry link with Tiangong-1 had been lost. A couple of months later, amateur satellite trackers watching Tiangong-1 began to speculate that China's space agency had lost control of the station. In September, after conceding they had lost control over the station, officials announced that the station would re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere late in 2017.


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