Information
Explore history, facts, modules, and life on board Tiangong-1.
Tiangong-1
China's first orbital laboratory and Shenzhou docking testbed.
Tiangong-1 was an eight-ton experimental space laboratory launched in 2011 to test rendezvous, docking, crew support, and early orbital operations for China's human-spaceflight program. Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9, and Shenzhou 10 docked with it before the lab reentered in April 2018.
Mass
about 8 t
CMSA described Tiangong-1 as an approximately eight-ton spacecraft.
Role
Rendezvous and docking testbed
It supported Shenzhou docking practice and early space-lab operations.
Modules and layout
Experiment module
Pressurized laboratory
Supported crewed laboratory operations and docking interfaces.
Resource module
Service module
Provided power and support systems for flight.
Timeline
Launch
Tiangong-1 launched from Jiuquan as China's first space laboratory.
Shenzhou 8 docking
Uncrewed Shenzhou 8 performed China's first automated docking tests with Tiangong-1.
Shenzhou 9 visit
The first crewed Tiangong-1 mission docked with the laboratory.
Shenzhou 10 visit
Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang, and Wang Yaping lived and worked aboard the laboratory.
Reentry
The laboratory reentered over the South Pacific and mostly burned up in the atmosphere.
All values are approximate and vary with configuration.