Where Tiangong space station (CSS) is now (marker), its next orbit (solid line) and its last half orbit (faded); the shaded area is in night.
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Tiangong, the “Heavenly Palace”, is China’s space station. Its core module Tianhe was launched in 2021, joined by the Wentian and Mengtian laboratories in 2022, and crews of three astronauts take turns aboard for about six months. It flies a little lower than the International Space Station, around 380 to 400 km, on an orbit tilted 41.5° to the equator, so it never passes over places north of about 42° latitude. Like the ISS, it can be seen with the naked eye as a bright moving point when it is lit by the Sun in a dark sky.
China's space station lets crews live and work in orbit for months at a time, to run experiments in weightlessness in life sciences, physics, materials and astronomy, and to test the technologies and study the health effects of long stays in space. It is also a step towards China's crewed missions to the Moon.
Today
Tiangong (“heavenly palace”) is called CSS (TIANHE) in the satellite catalogue, after its core module Tianhe, launched on 29 April 2021. The laboratory modules Wentian and Mengtian joined it in July and October 2022. Crews of three, flown on Shenzhou spacecraft, take turns about every six months.
Can I see Tiangong from Canada or northern Europe?
Sometimes, low on the southern horizon from the southernmost parts. Its orbit reaches about 42° latitude, so the farther north you are, the lower and rarer its passes.
How big is Tiangong?
About a sixth of the mass of the International Space Station, with three main modules; visiting spacecraft dock to it.
Where the numbers come from
Values refresh every second in your browser; the published data are checked every 10 minutes and updated several times a day.
