China is planning to have a space station of its own. This will be named Tiangong Space Station and will have 3 modules.
The Tiangong space station consists of Tianhe, Mengtian and a module called Wentian. The T-shaped Tiangong will host three astronauts for six months at a time, or six crew members for a brief time during crew handovers.
How will Tiangong Space Station look once assembled
After the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US, China is the only other country in history to have launched astronauts into space and constructed a space station.
Tiangong is intended to take the role of the International Space Station (ISS), which will be shut down in 2031. Because US law forbids its space agency, NASA, from sharing its data with China.
Chinese astronauts are now forbidden participating in the ISS.
Who establishes the laws of space?
- No territory in space may be claimed by a single country, according to the UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967.
- Space should not be used for commercial purposes, according to the UN Moon Agreement of 1979, but the US, China, and Russia have declined to join.
- The US is currently promoting its Artemis Accords, which outline how countries might jointly use the Moon’s minerals.
- Russia and China refuse to sign the Accords because they believe the US has no jurisdiction to set space policy.
