The construction of China's first space station has been completed. China's historic achievement is celebrated with the release of the latest yuan currency coin.
The People's Bank of China earlier this week, Monday (9/1), issued gold and silver coins related to the celebration of the completion of the construction of the Tiangong space station. The Earth-orbiting 'complex', first proposed in 1992, was completed last year with the addition of two science laboratories to the previously launched core module.
The gold and silver coins that were released, featured different designs. On the gold coin, there is a Tiangong shaped like the letter T on the back. The space station is featured with both the Shenzhou spacecraft crew and the Tianzhou cargo vehicle docked at either end of the Tianhe.
Engravings on the coin also depict solar arrays extending from the Wentian and Mengtian laboratory cabin modules and a taikonaut (the Chinese term for astronauts) wearing a Feitian spacesuit at the end of the space station's robotic arm.
Behind it, there is the China Manned Spaceflight Project (CMS) logo and the words Space Station in Chinese and the denomination of 50 yuan. The 24 carat gold coin was released in a limited edition of only 20 thousand pieces.
While the design on the silver coin depicts two taikonauts working outside the space station. One of the spacewalkers is at the end of the robot's arm, while the other is halfway out of the airlock. Unlike gold coins, some silver coins are colored with a luminous purple, pink, blue and green background.
On the other side, there is a picture that is a small representation of the development strategy or the "three steps" phase that China's space program went through in reaching the human space flight program to be at the current point.
The three featured steps are the launch of manned spacecraft, the deployment of single module laboratories, and finally, the multi-module space station as it exists today.
Like the gold coin, the back of the silver coin also features the CMS logo, the words Space Station in Chinese, and the denomination, 10 yuan. This coin is also released in a limited way, a maximum of only 50 thousand pieces.
The obverse of the gold and silver coins both feature the coat of arms of the People's Republic of China and the year of issue. Although the coin was released in 2023, the date is 2022, corresponding to the completion year of the construction of the Tiangong space station.