Tiangong-1

This article is about the first prototype Chinese space station. For China's permanent modular space station, see Tiangong space station.

Tiangong-1
天宫一号
Model of Tiangong-1 with docked Shenzhou crewed spacecraft.
Station statistics
COSPAR ID2011-053A
SATCAT no.37820
Launch29 September 2011,
13:16:03.507 UTC[1][2]
Carrier rocketLong March 2F/G
Launch padJiuquan, LA-4/SLS-1
Reentry2 April 2018, 00:16 UTC [3][4]
2 April 2018 00:15 UTC (China Manned Space Engineering Office)[5]
Mission statusDeorbited [4]
Mass8,506 kg (18,753 lb)[6]
Length10.4 m (34 ft)
Diameter3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Pressurised volume15 m3 (530 cu ft) [7]
Days occupied20 days, 18.5 hours
(Hatch open to hatch closed)[8]
Configuration
Plan diagram of Tiangong-1 with solar panels extended
Tiangong-1
Simplified Chinese天宫一号
Traditional Chinese天宮一號
Literal meaningCelestial Palace-1 or Heavenly Palace-1
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinTiāngōng yīhào
Gwoyeu RomatzyhTiangong ihaw
Wade–GilesT'ien1kung1 i1hao4
Yale RomanizationTyāngūng yīhàu
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationTīngūng yāthouh
JyutpingTin1 gung1 jat1 hou6
Southern Min
Hokkien POJThian-kong it-hō
Target Vehicle
Simplified Chinese目标飞行器
Traditional Chinese目標飛行器
Literal meaningTarget Vehicle
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMùbiāo Fēixíngqì
Gwoyeu Romatzyhmuhbiau feishyngchih
Wade–Gilesmu4piao1 fei1hsing2ch'i4

Tiangong-1 (Chinese: 天宫一号; pinyin: Tiāngōng yīhào; lit. 'Heaven's Palace-1" or "Celestial Palace-1"') was China's first prototype space station.[9] It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its two years of active operational life.[10][11]

Launched uncrewed aboard a Long March 2F launch vehicle on 29 September 2011,[1][12] it was the first operational component of the Tiangong program, which launched a larger, modular station into orbit in 2021.[10][13] Tiangong-1 was initially projected to be deorbited in 2013,[14] to be replaced over the following decade by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 space stations,[15] but it orbited until 2 April 2018.[3][4][5][16][17]

Tiangong-1 was visited by a series of Shenzhou spacecraft during its two-year operational lifetime. The first of these, the uncrewed Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module in November 2011,[18][19] while the crewed Shenzhou 9 mission docked in June 2012.[20][21][22] A third and final mission to Tiangong-1, the crewed Shenzhou 10, docked in June 2013.[23][24][25] The crewed missions to Tiangong-1 were notable for including China's first female astronauts, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping.[24][26]

On 21 March 2016, after a lifespan extended by two years, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced that Tiangong-1 had officially ended its service.[27][28] They went on to state that the telemetry link with Tiangong-1 had been lost.[29] A couple of months later, amateur satellite trackers watching Tiangong-1 found that China's space agency had lost control of the station.[29] In September 2016, after conceding they had lost control over the station, officials speculated that the station would re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere late in 2017.[30][31] According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, Tiangong-1 started reentry over the southern Pacific Ocean, northwest of Tahiti, on 2 April 2018 at 00:16 UTC.[4][5][16][17]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference spacedaily1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference daily was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "Tracking and Impact Prediction". space-track.org. JFSCC/J3. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Chiles, Cody (1 April 2018). "JFSCC tracks Tiangong-1's reentry over the Pacific Ocean". vandenberg.af.mil (Press release). Retrieved 3 April 2018. U.S. Strategic Command's (USSTRATCOM) Joint Force Space Component Command (JFSCC), through the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), confirmed Tiangong-1 reentered the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean at approximately 17:16 (PST) 1 April 2018. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ a b c "Tiangong-1 reenters the atmosphere". cmse.gov.cn. China Manned Space. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Tiangong 1". NASA. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Xin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Jonathan McDowell (4 April 2018). "Tiangong 1 statistic discussions". Twitter.
  9. ^ "China launches Tiangong-1 to mark next human space flight milestone". NASASpaceFlight.com. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference sdc20110307 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ David, Leonard (28 March 2018). "China's Doomed Space Station Did Some Science Work, Too". Space.com.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference chinadaily20110914 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "China to launch space station by 2023". BBC News. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  14. ^ "China to launch module for future space station" PhysOrg 28 September 2011 Retrieved 10 March 2013
  15. ^ "China to launch Tiangong-2 and cargo spacecraft in 2015". GB Times. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  16. ^ a b "Tiangong-1: Defunct China space lab comes down over South Pacific". BBC News. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  17. ^ a b Chang, Kenneth (1 April 2018). "China's Tiangong-1 Space Station Has Fallen Back to Earth Over the Pacific". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference ShenzhouDock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference AFPSecondDock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ "China launches space mission with first woman astronaut". BBC News. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dock2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "China to carry out crewed space flight". BBC News. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jun2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ a b "Shenzhou-10: China launches next crewed space mission". BBC News. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference TenDock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tel16June was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference xinhuanet-failure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ a b Jones, Morris (30 March 2016). "Has Tiangong 1 gone rogue". Space Daily. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  30. ^ "China's Tiangong-1 to fall to Earth late 2017" Xinhua News Agency 14 September 2016 Retrieved 22 September 2016
  31. ^ Guarino, Bin (21 September 2016). "Out of control? China's Tiangong 1 space station will fall to Earth – somewhere – in 2017". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 September 2016.