Beijing [China]: China’s space lab Tiangong-2 on Friday re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, said China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Tiangong-2 is an improved version of Tiangong-1 which was China’s first space lab. It was launched on September 15, 2016, where it has worked in orbit over 1,000 days, much longer than two-year designated lifespan, reported Xinhua.
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program said the mission was successful.
Efforts are being made to step up preparations for constructing China’s space station, CMSA said.
The space lab is comprised of an experiment module and a resource module. Its total length is 10.4 meters and a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters.
“With the successful controlled deorbit, the Tiangong-2 mission has been completed perfectly. It demonstrates that China sticks firmly to its international duties and keeps its promise of the peaceful and scientific use of space resources,” said Zhu Congpeng, chief designer of Tiangong-2 from the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
“Although Tiangong-2 had been in operation nearly one year longer than its designed lifespan, its platform and payloads functioned stably and soundly, and the propellant it carried was still sufficient to support its flight in orbit for other several years,” Zhu said, “It’s hard to say goodbye to Tiangong-2, but considering reliability- and safety-related factors, we have to drive it out of orbit now,” he added