7月26日早间英文播报：Wentian space lab goes into orbit

A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying the Wentian lab module blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan province on Sunday. LI GANG/XINHUA

Rocket blasts off and carries craft to nearly 400 km above the ground

Wentian, the first lab module of China's space station, has successfully docked with the combination of the Tianhe core module, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The Wentian module docked with the front port of Tianhe at 3:13 am Monday (Beijing Time), after it entered the planned orbit and completed state setting.

The whole process took approximately 13 hours, the CMSA said.

China launched its Wentian space laboratory on Sunday afternoon, sending the country's largest-ever spacecraft into Earth's orbit to become part of the Tiangong space station.

Encased in a 20.5-meter-long payload, the space lab was carried by a Long March 5B rocket that blasted off at 2:22 pm from a coastal service tower in the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province.

After a flight of about eight minutes, the rocket placed the craft into a low-Earth orbit nearly 400 kilometers above the ground.

The Shenzhou XIV mission crew now flying with the Tiangong－mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong, Senior Colonel Liu Yang and Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe－will then enter the lab module to check its condition and internal equipment, it said.

In the coming weeks, Wentian will be repositioned by a robot apparatus from the forward docking port to a lateral port, where it will remain and be prepared for long-term operations, mission planners said.

To prepare for Wentian's arrival, the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft departed from the Tiangong station on July 17 to leave its docking hatch for the lab. The cargo ship, which was launched in September and had remained connected to Tiangong since then, will be guided by ground controllers to eventually fall back to Earth.

Before Wentian's docking, Tiangong consisted of the Tianhe module, the Tianzhou 4 cargo ship and the Shenzhou XIV spacecraft.

Assembled at a manufacturing and testing complex in the northern municipality of Tianjin, Wentian was transported by ship and arrived in Wenchang in late April. It underwent function and prelaunch checks over the past three months at the launch center.

Platform for science

The first lab component of the Tiangong station, Wentian features cutting-edge technologies, strong capabilities, sophisticated design and represents a new milestone in China's space industry. It incorporates the wisdom, dedication and hard work of numerous scientists, engineers and technicians, according to the China Academy of Space Technology, which was responsible for designing and making the craft.

The vehicle consists of three major parts－a crew working compartment, an airlock cabin and an unpressurized service module.

Weighing 23 metric tons, the space lab is 17.9 meters tall, roughly equivalent to a six-story residential building, and has a diameter of 4.2 meters. It is the largest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever built and also the world's heaviest self-propelled spaceship in service, said Zhang Qiao, head designer of Wentian's overall structure.

The flexible solar panels of the lab are the largest of their kind in China. When fully unfolded, they are more than 55 meters long and have a combined area of nearly 280 square meters.

After Wentian is connected to the Tianhe module, its airlock cabin will replace the one on Tianhe to become the main place for astronauts to put on their spacewalk suits and move out of the space station.

"Its inner space is bigger than that of the airlock cabin on the core module while its hatch is wider, making it easier for astronauts to make preparations and carry out spacewalks," Zhang said.

Inside the gigantic lab, there are eight scientific cabinets. They will mainly be used for biological and life science studies and can support research on the growth, aging and genetic traits of plants, animals and microbes in the environment of space, he said.

Outside the airlock cabin, there are 22 extravehicular payload adapters capable of carrying scientific equipment needed for experiments that require exposure to the space environment, cosmic rays, vacuum and solar winds, Zhang added.

"In addition to its scientific functions, Wentian also serves as a backup control station to the Tianhe core module in case of emergencies or malfunctions. It has all the same flight-control devices as those inside the core module to operate the entire Tiangong station," Zhang said.

The designer added that the craft also has three separate sleeping quarters and an independent section for personal hygiene. They can be used in emergencies or handovers by two crews.

Wentian also has a five-meter robotic arm that can be used to move small and medium-sized equipment. It can be linked with the 10-meter robotic arm on the Tianhe module to create a joint arm capable of reaching all major parts of the Tiangong station, according to the designer.

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记者：赵磊

播报：Corrie Knight

音频编辑：万月英

原文链接： 

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202207/25/WS62ddd46ca310fd2b29e6e125.html

【背景阅读】

问天实验舱与天和核心舱组合体在轨完成交会对接 – 新华网

http://www.news.cn/tech/2022-07/25/c_1128859909.htm