Tiangong program

The Tiangong program (Chinese: 天宫空间站工程; pinyin: Tiāngōng kōngjiānzhàn gōngchéng; lit. 'Heavenly Palace Space Station Project') is China's space program to create a modular space station, comparable to Mir. This program is independent and unconnected to any other international space-active countries. The program is part of the China Manned Space Program that began in 1992. The core module of the Tiangong space station, the Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens") was finally launched on 29 April 2021 marking the start of the Tiangong Space program deployment. China launched its first space laboratory, Tiangong-1, on 29 September 2011. Following Tiangong-1, a more advanced space laboratory complete with cargo spacecraft, dubbed Tiangong-2, was launched on 15 September 2016. The first module of the 12 part new series of Tiangong space station launched on 29 April 2021. The project culminated with the Tiangong space station, which consists of a 22.6-ton core module and cargo transport craft, with two more major research modules launched in 2022. It supports three astronauts for long-term habitation.