Overview
Tiangong (天宫, "Heavenly Palace") is China's modular space station in low Earth orbit, operated by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The station was completed in late 2022 with the addition of the Mengtian laboratory module, joining the Tianhe core module (launched April 2021) and Wentian laboratory module (July 2022). It is permanently crewed with three-person (taikonaut) crews on ~6-month rotations.
Key Facts
| Core Module (Tianhe) | Launched 29 April 2021 |
| Wentian Lab | Launched 24 July 2022 |
| Mengtian Lab | Launched 31 October 2022 |
| Orbit | ~390 km altitude, 41.5° inclination |
| Speed | ~27,800 km/h (7.72 km/s) |
| Crew | 3 (permanently crewed since June 2022) |
| Design Life | 10+ years (with in-orbit maintenance) |
| Planned Expansion | Additional modules to extend to ~180 tonnes |
Visibility
Tiangong is the second-brightest space station in the sky, reaching magnitude –2.0 on favourable passes — nearly as bright as Jupiter. Its 41.5° inclination limits visibility to latitudes between approximately 41.5°N and 41.5°S. Track it live on the Tiangong tracker.
Scientific Mission
Tiangong supports research in microgravity physics, life sciences, materials science, and Earth observation. China plans to expand the station with additional modules and a co-orbiting space telescope (Xuntian, China's equivalent to Hubble) that can periodically dock with the station for servicing.