The space agency was caught in a great dilemma.
Even without the XS-62 tourist cabin, Tiangong No.2 could still complete its residency mission with little impact.
But docking with XS-62 meant that the astronauts' space could be greatly expanded, a super-large cabin segment could match the capacity of more than a dozen smaller ones, and this was not to be overlooked.
Most importantly, the price was not expensive, 1.6 billion for 620 cubic meters of space, including the launch. The space agency could not figure out how to get such a big thing into space with 1.6 billion of its own.
After several days of ideological struggle at the Fifth Institute, the space agency went through several days of ideological struggle as well, during which the Progress spacecraft had already returned to Earth.
At 12 p.m. on July 24, the trio squeezed into the narrow crew cabin of the space shuttle for the final lunch of this flight.
