https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/07/1...tation-module/
China’s heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket rolls out with new space station module
China moved a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket to its launch pad Monday in preparation for liftoff this weekend with a 22-ton module for the country’s Tiangong space station, a mission that could end with another uncontrolled re-entry of the Long March 5B’s large core stage.
The powerful launcher rolled from its assembly building to the launch pad Monday at the Wenchang launch center on Hainan Island in southern China. The Wentian module for China’s space station is encapsulated inside the rocket’s payload fairing.
The Long March 5B rocket is set for launch around 2:20 a.m. EDT (0620 GMT) Sunday, July 24, according to airspace warning notices associated with the mission. That’s also the approximate time the Tiangong space station’s orbital plane passes over the Wenchang launch center.
The Wentian module, with a launch weight near 44,000 pounds (20 metric tons), will dock with the Tianhe core module on China’s Tiangong station in low Earth orbit. Chinese astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe living on the Tiangong complex will monitor Wentian’s arrival, then become the first crew members to float into the station’s new module.
The launch this weekend will add the second of three large pressurized modules needed to complete the initial construction of the Tiangong space station. The Tianhe core module launched on a Long March 5B rocket in April 2021, and Chinese ground teams are preparing the Mengtian module for launch on a Long March 5B rocket in October.….