China has had astronauts in space since June 2012, when the Shenzhou 10 mission docked with the Tiangong-1 prototype space station for the first time. Since then, the country’s presence in orbit has grown and now it operates a station that’s roughly a fifth of the size of the International Space Station.
The new, larger station is called the Tiangong Space Station and while it’s been in operation around 240 miles above the Earth’s surface for more than three years now, its makeup has remained pretty mysterious to space fans, until now.
In a new video shared by China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV, the current crew of the TSS offers a rare tour of the facilities they’re working with in orbit, reports Futurism. The tour shows off the station’s kitchen, sleeping areas and views of Earth, as the site explains:
Crew members show off the station’s kitchen, from a small heater that dispenses water into small pouches to a modified microwave. Astronauts also showed off the surprisingly roomy beds that each feature a sizable porthole, with unparalleled views of the Earth below.
We even got a glimpse of the two orbital lab segments, including several cherry tomato and lettuce plants growing in the station’s greenhouse.
In short, it’s an uncommon and surprisingly detailed peek behind the curtain of an otherwise secretive space program that has historically held its cards close to its chest.
You can watch the tour for yourself below, and it really is fascinating to see how far China’s space station has come in just a handful of years. The first module of the Tiangong Space Station launched into orbit in April 2021 and was soon followed by two other pieces.
Each of the three modules that make up the station were fully assembled on Earth, before launching into space on China’s Changzheng 5 rockets. Because the components were completed on the ground, construction in space was minimal and the station became operational at a rapid rate. In fact, it’s first astronauts docked with the station less than three months after the first module was in orbit.
While onboard the station, Chinese astronauts have carried out the same kinds of experiments that NASA carries out on the ISS. So far, they’ve studied how zebra fish adapt to microgravity and researchers looked at whether early forms of life could be capable of surviving in the cosmos.
