Tiangong - Project History

Project History

In 1999, Project 921-2 was finally given official authorization. Two versions of the station were studied: an 8-metric ton "space laboratory" and 20-metric ton "space station".

In 2000, the first model of the planned space station was unveiled at Expo 2000 in Hanover. This was made up of modules derived from the orbital module of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Overall length of the station would be around 20 m, with a total mass of under 40 metric tons, with possibility of expansion through addition of further modules.

In 2001, Chinese engineers described a three-step process toward the realization of Project 921. The original target date for the fulfillment of the project was 2010.

• First, crewed flight itself (Phase 1); this successfully occurred in 2003.
• Second, the orbiting of a space laboratory (Phase 2, a scaled back version of the initial model) that would only be crewed on a short-term basis and left in an automated mode between visits.
• The third phase would involve the launch of a larger space laboratory, which would be permanently crewed and be China's first true space station (Phase 3).

Originally, China planned to simply dock Shenzhou 8 and Shenzhou 9 together to form a simple space laboratory. However, it was decided to abandon that plan and launch a small space laboratory instead. In 2007, plans for an 8-metric ton "space laboratory" being launched in 2010 under the designation of Tiangong 1 were made public. This would be an eight ton space laboratory module with two docking ports. Subsequent flights (Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10) will dock with the laboratory.

On September 29, 2008, Zhang Jianqi (张建启), Vice Director of China crewed space engineering, declared in an interview of China Central Television it is Tiangong 1 (i.e. not Shenzhou 8) that will be the 8-ton "target vehicle", and Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 will all be spaceships to dock with Tiangong 1 in turn.

At 1 Oct. 2008, Shanghai Space Administration, which participate in the development of Shenzhou 8, stated that they have succeeded in the simulated experiments for the docking of Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 8.

On 16 June 2012, Shenzhou 9 was launched from Juiquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia, China, carrying a crew of three. The Shenzhou craft successfully docked with the Tiangong-1 laboratory on 18 June 2012, at 06:07 UTC, marking China's first manned spacecraft docking.

Another 8-metric ton "space laboratory" will be launched sometime between 2012 and 2017.

The full 60-metric ton "space station" has been delayed to ~2020-2022, and will support three astronauts for long-term habitation.