BEIJING — China has postponed the planned launch Thursday of a rocket carrying supplies for its new space station due to technical reasons, state media said. The space station — named Tiangong, meaning “heavenly palace” — will need around 10 missions in total to complete assembly in orbit. Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said the construction of the space station has entered a “critical stage”. Although Chinese authorities have said they are open to foreign collaboration on their space station, the scope of that cooperation is as yet unclear. ADVERTISEMENTBut the European Space Agency has already sent astronauts to China to train for work inside Tiangong when it is ready.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 20, 2021 04:30 UTC