Tianhe – Spaceflight Now

Chinese Long March rocket launches oceanography satellite

May 19, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Long March 4B rocket successfully launched an oceanography satellite Wednesday from northwestern China, hours before officials at a different spaceport scrubbed the planned launch of a cargo ship to deliver supplies to the Chinese space station.

NASA chief criticizes China for uncontrolled rocket re-entry

May 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Saturday that China is failing to meet “responsible standards” on space debris after a massive Long March rocket stage fell back to Earth over the Indian Ocean in an uncontrolled re-entry that is likely to be repeated with additional launches next year.

Large Chinese rocket tumbling toward toward unguided re-entry this weekend

May 7, 2021 Stephen Clark

For the second time in a year, a large spent Chinese rocket stage intentionally left in orbit is heading for an unguided plunge back into Earth’s atmosphere Saturday or Sunday somewhere between 41.5 degrees north and south latitude.

Assembly of Chinese space station begins with successful core module launch

April 29, 2021 Stephen Clark

Chinese officials confirmed the successful launch of the first element of the country’s space station early Thursday, laying the keystone to a permanently-inhabited orbiting habitat that could welcome its first astronauts this summer.

First element of Chinese space station ready for liftoff

April 28, 2021 Stephen Clark

The core module of China’s space station is packaged inside the nose cone of a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket for liftoff late Wednesday (U.S. time), the first of 11 launches to deliver astronauts, supplies, experiments, and new laboratory modules to build out the orbiting complex before the end of 2022.

China to begin construction of space station this year

January 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

The core section of China’s space station is scheduled to launch in the next several months, the first of 11 missions carrying lab elements, cargo, and astronauts to the fledgling outpost over the next two years, according to Chinese space program officials.

Prototypes for new Chinese crew capsule and space station arrive at launch site

January 24, 2020 Stephen Clark

The next flight of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket will debut a new configuration designed to launch modules for a Chinese space station. But a demonstration launch of the Long March 5B booster scheduled as soon as April will instead carry a prototype of China’s next-generation deep space crew capsule into orbit on an unpiloted test flight.