China Successfully Launches Tiangong-1

China Successfully Launches Tiangong-1

China’s top leaders were either at the Beijing Command and Control Center or the Jiuquan launch site for the successful launch of Tiangong-1, China’s first space station module.

China’s CNTV English-language news channel carried the launch live. The on-time liftoff was at 9:16 pm Beijing time (9:16 am EDT). Cameras on the ground and on the rocket provided excellent visual coverage of the launch on a clear night in the Gobi desert.

The final orbit will be about 350 x 200 kilometers according to commentary on CNTV. No one is aboard Tiangong-1. It is an automated docking target. Three spacecraft are scheduled to dock with it over the next two years. First will be the unoccupied Shenzhou 8, planned for launch in about a month.

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