Majestic photo shows China’s Tiangong space station in all its glory

China’s Tiangong space station has been photographed in its complete form for the first time. The vertiginous photo was taken from the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft as it made its way back to Earth after delivering three crew members to the space station.

Tiangong is fully operational, after the third and final module, Mengtian, was attached late last year. This module is at the top of the image, while the Wentian module, which is the main exit and entry point for arriving and departing astronauts, can be seen at the bottom. The Tianhe module, which was the first part of the station put into orbit, is at the centre of the photo.

The space station’s main purpose is for scientific research: the China Manned Space Agency has approved more than 1000 experiments to be performed in microgravity, on questions such as how plants grow in space and how fluids flow. There are currently three Chinese astronauts aboard the space station, with another three en route aboard Shenzhou 17, which launched in October and will dock next year.