Chinese vice premier congratulates Wentian mission participants

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, watches the launch of Wentian, the first lab module of the country's space station, and extends warm greetings and congratulations to all those participating in the mission, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, July 24, 2022. China on Sunday launched Wentian from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan. The module has entered the planned orbit and the launch is a complete success. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Sunday watched the launch of Wentian, the first lab module of the country's space station, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, extended warm greetings and congratulations to all those participating in the mission.

China on Sunday launched Wentian from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan. The module has entered the planned orbit and the launch is a complete success.

As the second module and the first lab module of China's space station, Wentian consists of a work cabin, an airlock cabin and a resource cabin.

It is mainly used to support astronauts as they remain in orbit and carry out extravehicular activities. It is also used to conduct scientific experiments in space, and can serve as a backup to the Tianhe core module for the management and control of the space station.

The Wentian module will rendezvous and dock with the space-station assembly according to the scheduled procedures, and the Shenzhou-14 astronauts will enter Wentian to carry out relevant work.