12 Facts About Tiangong-1

Tiangong-1 was initially projected to be deorbited in 2013, to be replaced over the following decade by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 space stations, but it orbited until 2 April 2018.

Tiangong-1 was visited by a series of Shenzhou spacecraft during its two-year operational lifetime.

The crewed missions to Tiangong-1 were notable for including China's first female astronauts, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping.

Xinhua News Agency later stated that Tiangong-1 would be launched in late 2010, and declared that the renovation of ground equipment was in progress.

Structurally, Tiangong-1 was divided into two primary sections: a resource module, which mounted its solar panels and propulsion systems, and a larger, habitable experimental module.

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Tiangong-1 was originally intended to be launched in August 2011, and was delivered to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 23 July 2011, successfully passing a launch rehearsal test on 17 August 2011.

On 10 October 2011, Tiangong-1 released its first orbital photo, showing a view of its outer hull and satellite relay antenna.

In December 2011, the Tiangong-1 module began automated internal checks for toxic gas, to ensure that its interior would be safe for astronauts to enter.

Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011, with an intended service span of two years.

The IADC's final prediction before re-entry was that Tiangong-1 would re-enter at around 01:00 UTC on 2 April 2018, plus or minus 2 hours, falling somewhere on Earth between 42.

Tiangong-1 reentered the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 00:16 UTC on 2 April 2018 over the South Pacific Ocean at.

Tiangong-1 was designed as a test bed for key technologies later used on another test station called Tiangong-2, which was launched on 15 September 2016.