Chinese officials at a desert rocket base described plans for their new space station and for reusable rockets, as well as travel beyond near-Earth orbit.
The crew will set off from a secretive desert launch center to rendezvous with fellow astronauts aboard Tiangong, the country’s newly completed outpost in orbit.
The Wentian module, the second part of the Tiangong orbital outpost, requires using a massive launcher that has twice conducted uncontrolled re-entries into Earth’s atmosphere.