Chinese astronauts arrive at Tiangong space station to prepare for its completion

Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Three Chinese astronauts arrived at the core module of the unfinished space station on Sunday morning, where they will stay for six months to finish the project. At 10:44AM local time on Saturday, the spaceship took off from the satellite launch center in the Gobi Desert and docked with the ship.

Three people, including the first Chinese woman in space, are part of the crew. The crew is expected to conduct several spacewalks and prepare the station for the arrival of two additional lab modules with the Wentian module set to launch next month. The T-shaped station that will be smaller than the International Space Station will be created by attaching the two modules to each other.

The launch of the Xuntian telescope module will take place in 2023, with China aiming to finish the construction of Tiangong by the end of this year. China has sent three people to the space station since the launch of the Tianhe module. The station will hold six people for the first time at the end of this year, with the arrival of the Shenzhou 15 crew.