Wentian module
Wentian (simplified Chinese: 问天; traditional Chinese: 問天; pinyin: Wèn Tiān; lit. 'Quest for the Heavens'), officially the Wentian laboratory cabin module (simplified Chinese: 问天实验舱; traditional Chinese: 問天實驗艙), is a major module of the Tiangong space station. It is the first Laboratory Cabin Module launched, and the first module to extend the existing Tianhe core module of the station. It was launched into orbit from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on 24 July 2022, successfully docking with Tianhe forward port at 19:13 UTC on the same day. On 25 July 2022 at 02:03 UTC, the crew of Shenzhou 14 opened the hatch and entered the module for the first time.
Rendering of Wentian lab module | |
| Module statistics | |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 2022-085A |
| Part of | Tiangong space station |
| Launch date | 24 July 2022, 06:22:32 UTC |
| Launch vehicle | Long March 5B (Y3) |
| Mass |
|
| Length | 17.9 m (59 ft) |
| Diameter | 4.2 m (14 ft) |
| Pressurised volume | 118m3 habitable: 39m3 |
| Docking with Tiangong space station | |
| Docking port | Tianhe Forward |
| Docking date | 24 July 2022, 19:13 UTC |
| Undocking date | 30 September 2022, ~03:44 UTC |
| Time docked | 2 months and 5 days |
| Berthing at Tiangong space station (Relocation) | |
| Berthing port | Tianhe Starboard |
| Berthing date | 30 September 2022, 04:44 UTC |
| Time berthed | 1 year, 4 months and 12 days |
Wentian was later relocated to the starboard port on 30 September 2022 at 04:44 UTC by the indexing robot arm to make way for the Mengtian module.