Alex McColgan

Unlike the ISS which has been in orbit for over 25 years, China's own space station endeavours only started in 2011 with the launch of the first Tiangong space station.

That's right, they launched the whole space station in one go.

This was not a complex construction.

Tiangong-1 was a simple tube-like prototype consisting of a sleeping and living station for Chinese astronauts, otherwise known as taikonauts, a habitable lab for docking and orbital experiments,

and a module for propulsion.

The whole station was only 10.4 meters long compared to the ISS 108 meters, and had two solar panels on either side.

Its simplicity was a reflection of China's purposes for it, to master rendezvous and docking techniques, and to only dip their toes in the water of space habitation.

Tiangong-1 was only in space for a little under 7 years.

China did succeed in sending both crewed and uncrewed missions to Tiangong-1, and buoyed by this success, they upped their game with plans for a larger space station.

To achieve this goal, more tests would be needed.

In 2016, a second space station was launched which also bore the name of Tiangong.

Tiangong-2 was intended to field test key technologies that would be needed for the larger space station, and was deorbited just a few years later in 2019 once its tasks were completed.

The road was paved for China's Tiangong-3.

Tiangong III, often referred to as just Tiangong, aims to be the home of thousands of experiments.

To further this goal, Tiangong consists of the Tianhe core module for crew to live in and two science modules, Wen Tian and the Meng Tian.

The former, designed to see space's impact on living things and to develop medical technologies,

while the second focused on microgravity and its effects on fluid behavior, combustion, and more.

Rotating solar panels connect to the station and turn to face the sun, allowing Tiangong to maximize its energy collection.

The Tiangong has an external robotic arm that can carry a taikonaut to various parts of the station, allowing extravehicular activities to be carried out.

The whole space station weighs 100 tonnes and is 55 metres long, and can house up to six Tychonauts at once.