China has been preparing for the deployment of its space station for some time, and after the tests of recent years it is now progressing apace in the construction of Tiangong. The main core was launched in April 2021, and several images reveal that among the details that have taken care of this station is the organization of its interior.
This is obvious when one compares Tiangong with the already veteran International Space Station (ISS), which accuses the passing of the years and in which that organization of cables and the various interior elements was not a priority.
The years do not go in vain
The ISS has been ailing for some time, but it is normal: it was launched in 1998 and has been fulfilling its mission for more than 22 years. Many details were taken into account when it was designed and built, but probably hiding cables was not one of the priorities.
Of course not everything seemed so chaotic initially: a book published in 2020 precisely visually showed the evolution of the International Space Station, and in it you can see images in which everything seemed more organized.
Trying to have everything more organized does seem to have been one of the design principles of Tiangong, the Chinese space station. Here it is evident that its recent release makes it look more modern and less chaotic.
Astronaut Wang Yaping, floating inside the module called Tianhe, the main module of the Chinese space station.
However, it is no less true that the ISS has seen how in it thousands of updates have been made and of course those corridors of the International Space Station are prepared to be able to quickly connect and disconnect new devices.
There is also various videos in which it is possible to take a visual tour of the ISS to see how indeed there are areas that are more chaotic than others. In the case of the Chinese Tiangong station, a recent video China Global Television Network (CGTN) showed its three astronauts also doing a tour of part of the facilities and answering questions to Chinese students.
In the images and video of the Chinese space station, for example, a great set of harnesses in the structure to be able to hold on to it at any time if one does not want to “float” through those compartments, and the presence of cables seems much less.
Side-by-side of China’s Tiangong space station vs the ISS pic.twitter.com/ESVHjGNyHH
— Latest in space (@latestinspace) June 12, 2022
Maybe over time the appearance of the interior of Tiangong does not seem so tidy, but for now it is true that comparing the appearance of both facilities is striking.
Pictures | China Daily | ESA
