China Launches First Section of Its Massive Space Station

China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An illustration of China's space station. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China launches the core capsule of its space station at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Thursday morning, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Su Dong/ Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A Long March-5B heavy-lift rocket is ready to send the core module of China'sspace stationinto the space at its launch site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin/For chinadaily.com.cn]

A Long March-5B heavy-lift rocket is ready to send the core module of China'sspace stationinto the space at its launch site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Guo Wenbin/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. China on Thursday sent into space the core module of its space station, kicking off a series of key launch missions that aim to complete the construction of the station by the end of next year. [Photo by Yuan Chen/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in South China's Hainan province, April 29, 2021. [Photo by Tao Ran/For chinadaily.com.cn]