Meanwhile.
CHINA'S GROWING SPACE STATION:
China's Tiangong space station is in the big leagues now. In the past year alone, it has more than doubled in size, and it is starting to rival its older cousin the International Space Station (ISS). On Sept. 22nd, astrophotographer Philip Smith watched Tiangong fly over his backyard in New York. "It was bright!" he says. "I created this composite photo to show how much it has grown."
On the left is station's original core module, Tianhe-1, which Smith photographed in 2021. On the right is a recent photo of the International Space Station. Between the two is Tiangong as it appeared to Smith on Sept. 22nd.
"I scaled all of these images so they show the spacecraft as they would appear side-by-side at the same distance from my telescope," notes Smith.
With solar arrays, a robotic arm, multiple modules, and two spacecraft (Tianzhou 4 and Shenzhou 14) waiting at docking ports, Tiangong is starting to look a lot like the ISS. The ISS is still much larger, but China is catching up.
When it is completed in December 2023, Tiangong with be a Mir-class facility massing nearly 70 tons with living space for as many as 7 astronauts and even a Hubble-class telescope to view the cosmos.
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