China succeeds in launching the last major unit of its space station on its way to breaking the monopoly of the West by creating a permanent presence in space

Weather of Arabia - China succeeded in launching "Mingtian", the second laboratory unit in its space station, into orbit on Monday afternoon, taking a step closer to completing the space station by the end of this year, as the "Mingtian" unit is the third and final major part of the Tiangong Station.

A Long March-5B rocket carrying "Mingtian" lifted off at 15:37 (Beijing time) from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in south China's Hainan Province.

About Mingtian Laboratory

The laboratory unit, "Mingtian", which means "sky dreams", weighs more than 20 tons, is 17.9 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters. The unit is primarily designed for science experiments, so it does not have a sleeping cabin, unlike the Tianhe and Wentian units, which were launched to China's Tiangong station in April 2021 and on July 24, 2022 (respectively).

This phase would allow the full operation of China's Tiangong space station and provide a permanent presence for Beijing in space.

The station will remain in a low orbit between 400 and 450 kilometers above the Earth for at least ten years, with the stated goal of maintaining a long-term human presence in space.

Although China does not expect international cooperation on its space station, Beijing has stressed that it is open to cooperation with foreign parties.

China has been investing several billion dollars in its space program for decades.

China's ambition to build a space station was partially reinforced by the United States' refusal to participate in the International Space Station program, in which the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan cooperate, as China was excluded from the International Space Station because of the United States' concern that its space program is run by the military wing of the ruling Communist Party. People's Liberation Army.

Among the achievements of China in its ambitious space program:

• China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003.
• In 2019, Beijing launched a rover that landed on the dark side of the moon, setting a global precedent.
• In 2020, China transferred samples from the moon, and also launched a small probe on Mars.
• A Chinese robotic rover has landed on Mars 2021.
• The base unit of Tiangong Station, or "Heavenly Palace", was launched in April 2021.
• China also intends to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.

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