Chinese Space Station Launches, Booster to Crash to Earth

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The Cosmic Companion

6 min readMay 1, 2021

Tianhe, the core of the Chinese space station, launched into orbit, breaking ground on the Middle Kingdom’s ambitious new home in space. Keep your eyes up — the booster is going to crash.

The launch of the Tianhe core module for the Chinese Space Station used a Long March 5 rocket, like the one shown here lifting the Tianwen-1 spacecraft to Mars. Image credit: CNSA

On April 28, on China’s southern province island Hainan, massive engines ignited beneath a Long March 5B rocket, lifting Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) into orbit. This core module…

Chinese Space Station Launches, Booster to Crash to Earth

Written by The Cosmic Companion