Tiangong-2

Initially, the Tiangong-2 was a reserve ship of the Tiangong-1 . Its internal living quarters and life support systems have been improved ^[4] . Consists of two compartments. The larger diameter compartment is designed for living and conducting experiments; in it is the docking station. A smaller diameter compartment is used as a technical unit, solar panels , batteries, main engines are installed on it and a fuel supply is stored ^{[5] [6]} .

Total information:

• Mass - about 8.6 tons ^{[5] [7]} ;
• Length - 10.4 meters ^[5] ;
• Width (according to solar panels) - 18.4 meters ^[8] ;
• Width (maximum case diameter) - 3.35 meters ^[5] ;
• The duration of the provided expedition to visit 2 cosmonauts is 30 days ^{[9] [10]} .

The main tasks of Tiangong-2 are the reception of manned and cargo ships ^[4] , testing the medium-term astronauts in orbit, refueling, as well as conducting a number of scientific and applied experiments. On October 16, 2016, the manned ship " Shenzhou-11 " with two taikonauts on board was launched to the station and on October 18, docking was completed. The Taikonauts carried out a 30-day expedition at the station. On April 20, 2017, the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft of the Tianzhou series was launched ^[11] . He must deliver fuel and other supplies to the station. Will be checked and evaluated: automatic docking of a new series of cargo ships, replenishment of fuel supplies and equipment repair, as well as long-term stay of astronauts in orbit ^[4] .

The astronauts who arrived at the Tiangong-2 carried out various experiments. For this, the space laboratory has 14 types of scientific equipment. Among them:

• high-precision cold atomic clocks, the error of which, according to scientists, is one second in 30 million years ^[12] ;
• POLAR highly sensitive gamma-ray detector, created by scientists from Switzerland, Poland and China; ^[13]
• medical equipment for studying the effect of weightlessness on the human cardiovascular system ;
• equipment for conducting an experiment to monitor the development of plants in space ^[14] .

2016

• On July 9, the Tiangong-2 laboratory was delivered from Beijing by railway to Jiuquan Cosmodrome in two days, where assembly and commissioning of the device began ^[15] .
• On August 6, two Changzheng-2F launch vehicles were delivered to the Jiuquan cosmodrome, designed to launch the Tiangong-2 orbiter and the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft into orbit ^[16] .
• On September 9, the assembly and testing of the laboratory was completed, and it was delivered to the launch pad along with the launch vehicle ^[17] .
• September 15 at 14:04 UTC (17:04 Moscow time) from the Jiuquan cosmodrome, the two-stage carrier rocket Changzheng-2F was launched, which launched the Tiangong-2 space laboratory into Earth’s orbit ^[5] . To track the flight of the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, not only ground services are involved, but also the Yuanwan-5 marine control vessel, which entered the Pacific ^[18] .
• On October 16 at 23:30 UTC (October 17 at 2:30 Moscow time), the manned spacecraft Shenzhou-11 was launched from the Jiuquan launch site using the Changzheng-2F launch vehicle. The crew of the ship are taikonauts : commander Jing Haipeng and his partner Chen Dong ^[19] .
• October 18 at 19:31 UTC (22:31 Moscow time) the docking in the automatic mode of the manned spacecraft "Shenzhou-11" and the space laboratory "Tiangong-2" ^[20] . After which the crew moved to the space laboratory ^[21] .
• On October 22 at 23:31 UTC, the Banxing-2 satellite (Banxing-2) weighing 47 kg was launched from the Tiangun-2 laboratory, which, accompanying the station, carries out space experiments, including shooting ^[22] "Tiangong-2" and "Shenzhou-11" ^[23] .
• On November 17, at 4:41 UTC (7:41 Moscow time), the Shenzhou-11 was undocked with crew members on board from the Tiangong-2 ^[24]

2017

• On April 20, the Wenchang cosmodrome launched the two-stage carrier rocket Changzheng-7 , which launched the first Chinese cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 into Earth’s orbit. ^[25]
• On April 22, Tianzhou-1 was automatically docked with Tiangong-2. ^[25]
• On April 27, the first refueling test was completed. ^[25]
• On June 15, the second refueling test was completed. ^[25]
• On June 19, undocking, autonomous flight, and the second docking of Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 were made. ^[25]
• On June 21, the Tianzhou-1 undocked from the Tiangong-2.
• On September 12, the third docking of Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 was made. This docking fulfilled the accelerated docking with the station. ^[25]
• On September 16, the third refueling test was completed. ^[26]
• On September 17, the Tianzhou-1 undocked from the Tiangong-2. ^[26]
• On September 22, 2017, the Tianzhou-1 cargo ship was taken out of orbit. ^[27]

2019

• July 19, 2019 at 16:06 Moscow time, the Chinese orbital station Tiangong-2 completed its work and made a controlled descent from orbit. The station collapsed in the dense atmosphere above the South Pacific, between New Zealand and Chile. Small fragments that were not burned in the atmosphere fell into the ocean ^[28] .