A Long March-5B Y4 rocket, carrying the Mengtian lab module for China's space station, takes off from Hainan province. Reuters
The construction of China's Tiangong space station has been completed, after the Mengtian module docked with the orbiting laboratory. Photo: China Manned Space Agency
The Mengtian module docked with the Tiangong space station on Monday. Photo: Chinese Manned Space Agency
The module docks with the space station, completing the construction of the structure. Photo: China Manned Space Agency
Crowds watch it blast off at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre in southern China. AP
China has completed the construction of its Tiangong space station, after launching its third and final component on Monday.
The Mengtian module, which translates to 'dreaming of the heavens', launched on a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre and was able to dock with the space station about 13 hours later.
Astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuhe have been on board the orbiting laboratory since June for a six-month mission to complete the construction.
Tiangong is about one-fifth of the size of the International Space Station (ISS) and is able to accommodate three astronauts, or six people during a short handover.
The T-shaped station now includes the Tianhe core module and two laboratory modules including the Wentian and Mentian.
An uncrewed Tianzhou cargo craft is scheduled to dock with the station next month and another crewed mission is expected in December to finish off the final phase of construction.
China has previously said that it is open to hosting astronauts from other countries on its space station.
The country has ambitions to become a leading space power, with a thriving sector that includes human flights to its new space station, planetary, lunar and deep-space exploration, a satellite navigation system and the continued development of its space transport system.
From 2016 to December 2021, China completed 207 launch missions, including 183 by the Long March carrier rocket series.
China has already landed a spacecraft on the Moon and Mars.
It will launch the UAE's Rashid 2 rover on its Chang'e-7 lunar landing mission to the lunar south pole in 2026.
Plans for the International Lunar Research Station — an enormous research station on the Moon by China and Russia — are also under way.
The proposal involves sending several Chinese and Russian missions to the Moon over a 15-year period from 2021 to 2036.
Officials said international partners would be required to make the project more cost-effective and boost the speed of research.
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.
A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.
"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
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MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
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Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
The National's picks
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
