The Mengtian experimental module and the Chinese space station assembly have completed rendezvous and docking in orbit, which is about to be completed.

CTOnews.com, November 1, according to the China manned Space Office, after the Mengtian experimental module of the space station was launched into orbit, the space station successfully docked at the front port of the sky and core module at 04:27 on November 1, 2022, Beijing time. The whole rendezvous and docking process lasted about 13 hours.

In the follow-up, the transposition of the Mengtian experimental module will be carried out as planned, and the Mengtian experimental module will form a basic configuration combination of the space station "T" with the Tianhe core module and the Quntian experimental module.

15:37 on October 31, 2022, Beijing time, the long March 5B Yao 4 carrier rocket carrying the Mengtian experimental module of the space station was ignited and launched on time at the Wenchang space launch site in China. About eight minutes later, the Mengtian experimental module was successfully separated from the rocket and accurately entered the scheduled orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success.

The Mengtian experimental module is the third and second scientific experimental module of the Chinese space station. it is composed of a working module, a payload module, a cargo airlock module and a resource module. Its take-off weight is about 23 tons. It is mainly used to carry out space science and application experiments and participate in the management of the space station assembly. The cargo airlock module can support the automatic entry and exit of cargo in and out of the cabin and provide support for scientific experiments inside and outside the cabin.

CTOnews.com learned that this is the 25th mission since the establishment and implementation of China's manned space program, and also the 446th flight of the long March series of carrier rockets.

As the Mengtian experimental module is launched into orbit, rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe core module and complete transposition, the Chinese space station will form the basic configuration of the third module "T". At that time, the construction of the Chinese space station with Tianhe core module, Quntian experimental module and Mengtian experimental module as the basic configuration will be completed, and all three modules will be completed.