China adds lab module to its orbiting space station

China added a laboratory to its permanent orbiting space station on Monday. The Wentian lab module was launched from the Wenchang space base on the tropical island province of Hainan on Sunday. After 13 hours of flight, it successfully docked with the Tiangong station's main Tianhe living module at 3:13 a.m. Monday.

Three astronauts are currently living in the core module on a six-month mission and oversaw the Wentian's arrival and docking. It is designed for science and biology experiments, and the 23-ton lab module is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space.