5 facts about China's new 'Heavenly Palace' space station

China launched three astronauts to its Tiangong space station for what will be the first in-orbit crew rotation in Chinese space history. The space station ties into China's grand ambitions to become a spacefaring superpower that can rival the likes of the United States and Russia, and maybe even surpass them. Here are five facts you need to know about Tiangong, named after the Chinese word for "heavenly palace" or "celestial palace." 1. China's Tiangong space station has 3 modules The Chinese space station has three modules—the Tianhe core module ("heavenly river" crew module and the laboratory cabin modules Wentian…