China launches Wentian space lab

The designer added that the craft also has three separate sleeping quarters and an independent section for personal hygiene and they can be used in emergencies or during crews' handovers.

Moreover, Wentian has a five-meter robotic arm that can be used to move small- and medium-sized equipment. It can also be linked with the 10-meter robotic arm on the Tianhe module to create a joint arm capable of reaching to all major parts of the Tiangong station, according to the designer.

According to mission planners, the Tiangong station's second lab named Mengtian will be lifted by a Long March 5B from Wenchang in October.

After it is connected with the Tiangong, the station will form a T-shaped structure and astronauts will have as much as 110 cubic meters in their usable space.

After the labs, the Tianzhou 5 cargo craft and the Shenzhou XV crew are scheduled to arrive at the massive orbiting outpost around the end of the year.

Upon its completion, the Tiangong will be manned regularly by groups of three astronauts in periods usually lasting six months. During hand-overs to new three-astronaut groups, the station will accommodate up to six astronauts.

Currently, Tiangong is manned by the Shenzhou XIV mission crew who entered the station late on June 5, several hours after their spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

The third group of Tiangong occupants, Chen and his teammates are scheduled to stay in the station for six months to monitor the assembly of the colossal station in space.

The three astronauts' flight has launched a 10-year period in which, barring unforeseen circumstances, Chinese astronauts will be in space every day.