Tiangong space station: China releases beautiful panoramic image with fully visible structure

Tiangong space station:The Chinese space agency has released first panoramic image of its Tiangong space station for the first time. The image shows the full stretch of the T-shaped space station with the solar panels unfurled to their fullest extent, and surface of the Earth in the background.

According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), this image of the Tiangong space station was taken by a Shenzhou 16 astronaut when the spacecraft was flying above the space station before its return to Earth.

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The project to construct Tiangong space station began in 1992 and the actual construction started in 2021. There have been a few times the space station has been clickedbefore. But this time around, the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft made a special 'flyby' after undocking from the space station and clicked a picture from just a few hundred metres above it.

SCMP reported that the picture was clicked last month by Gui Haichao.

Gui is a researcher and a civilian astronaut.

The latest picture shows the full space station. The core module, named Tianhe, is at the centre. Mengtian and Wentian, the two laboratory modules are docked at either sides. Each of this laboratory modules has a pair of solar panels that are 55 metres in length.

The interesting thing is, these three modules were sent to space in separate launches and the assembly took place in the orbit.

The Tiangong space station also has a 10-metre robotic arm. It is connected to the Wentian, one of the laboratory modules. There are slots in Mengtian, the other laboratory module, for exposure experiments.

The Chinese space station is widely perceived to be a rival to the ageing International Space Station (ISS). The US severely restricted China's access to the International Space Station and China has been able to take a prject of its own space station to near completion. It is not yet fully clear how much international access will actually be afforded at the Tiangong space station.