Launch of Tiangong-1

Tiangong-1 was China's first space station prototype, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. It was a small laboratory module, intended to test the technologies needed for docking and for a future larger station. In 2012, the crewed spacecraft Shenzhou 9 docked with it, carrying the first Chinese woman in space, Liu Yang, and a second crew visited it in 2013. After its mission ended, the station was retired, and in 2016 China lost contact with it. It re-entered the atmosphere uncontrolled in 2018, and mostly burned up over the South Pacific. Its successor Tiangong-2 and the later Tiangong space station followed.

Open on the timeline