Editing Space station (section)

===''Tiangong'' program===
{{main|Tiangong space station|Tiangong program}}
[[File:Chinese Tiangong Space Station.jpg|thumb|alt=Rendering of the completed Tiangong Space Station in November 2022|Rendering of the completed Tiangong Space Station in November 2022|left]]

China's first space laboratory, [[Tiangong-1]] was launched in September 2011.<ref name="NASAspaceflight">{{cite web |last=Barbosa |first=Rui |date=29 September 2011 |title=China launches TianGong-1 to mark next human space flight milestone |url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/09/china-major-human-space-flight-milestone-tiangong-1s-launch/ |publisher=NASASpaceflight.com}}</ref> The uncrewed [[Shenzhou 8]] then successfully performed an automatic rendezvous and docking in November 2011. The crewed [[Shenzhou 9]] then docked with Tiangong-1 in June 2012, followed by the crewed [[Shenzhou 10]] in 2013.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

According to the [[China Manned Space Engineering Office]], Tiangong-1 [[#Re-entry|reentered]] over the South [[Pacific Ocean]], northwest of [[Tahiti]], on 2 April 2018 at 00:15 UTC.<ref name="BBC-20180401">{{cite news |author=Staff |date=1 April 2018 |title=Tiangong-1: Defunct China space lab comes down over South Pacific |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43614408 |access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="NYT-20180401">{{cite news |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |date=1 April 2018 |title=China's Tiangong-1 Space Station Has Fallen Back to Earth Over the Pacific |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/science/chinese-space-station-crash-tiangong.html |access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref>

A second space laboratory [[Tiangong-2]] was launched in September 2016, while a plan for [[Tiangong-3]] was merged with Tiangong-2.<ref name="tiangong">{{Cite news |last=Dickinson |first=David |date=10 November 2017 |title=China's Tiangong 1 Space Station to Burn Up |url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/chinas-tiangong-1-set-to-reenter-in-the-coming-months/ |access-date=8 February 2018 |website=[[Sky & Telescope]]}}</ref> The station made a controlled reentry on 19 July 2019 and burned up over the South Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Liptak |first=Andrew |date=20 July 2019 |title=China has deorbited its experimental space station |newspaper=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/20/20701831/china-tiangong-2-deorbited-experimental-space-station |access-date=21 July 2019}}</ref>

The [[Tiangong Space Station|''Tiangong'' Space Station]] ({{lang-zh|s=天宫|p=Tiāngōng|l=Heavenly Palace}}), the first module of which was launched on 29 April 2021,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56924370|title = China launches first module of new space station|work = BBC News|date = 29 April 2021}}</ref> is in low Earth orbit, 340 to 450 kilometres above the Earth at an orbital inclination of 42° to 43°. The core module was extended in 2022 with two laboratory modules, bringing the total station capacity to six crew members. The station was completed on 5 November 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wall |first=Mike |date=7 January 2021 |title=China plans to launch core module of space station this year |url=https://www.space.com/china-space-station-core-module-launch-spring-2021 |access-date=2021-05-04 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Clark|first=Stephen|title=China to begin construction of space station this year – Spaceflight Now|url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/01/10/china-to-begin-construction-of-space-station-this-year/|access-date=2021-05-04|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dobrijevic |first=Daisy |last2=updated |first2=Andrew Jones last |date=2021-08-24 |title=China's space station, Tiangong: A complete guide |url=https://www.space.com/tiangong-space-station |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref>