Tiangong-1

Common card · No. 395783

Tiangong-1 (Chinese: 天宫一号; pinyin: Tiāngōng yīhào; lit. 'Heavenly Palace 1') was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018. During development, it was known as the target vehicle, reflecting its primary role as an experimental testbed for demonstrating orbital rendezvous and docking, and secondarily as a crewed laboratory for scientific research during its two years of active service. Tiangong-1 was launched uncrewed on 29 September 2011 aboard the first Long March 2F/T, an upgraded version of China's human-rated launch vehicle. It was the first operational component of the Tiangong program, which later led to the launch of the modular Tiangong space station in 2021. Tiangong-1 was initially expected to be deorbited in 2013 and replaced by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 stations over the following decade, but it remained in orbit until 2 April 2018. Three Shenzhou spacecraft visited Tiangong-1 during its operational lifetime. The first...

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