China launches its first space laboratory

China has a manned space station scheduled for 2020.

China is the third country to orbit a human being behind the USSR and the USA.

The laboratory module also carries scientific experiments.

China launched on Thursday at 21.16 local time (13.16 GMT) the first module Tiangong Spacelab-1, unmanned , together with the Long March carrier rocket 2FT1 from downtown Jiuquan Satellite Launch (northwest), the agency official Xinhua. China's president, Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao witnessed the launch from the space centers in Beijing and Jiuquan respectively. From 8.5 ton, 10.4 meters and 3.35 meters in diameter, Tiangong-1 spacecraft will dock with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 over the next two years, Xinhua news agency reported. The first experimental space docking, two days after the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou-8, is scheduled within a month, in late October or early November, according to spokesman for China's manned space program, Wu Ping. This first space docking to test this technology will be when Tiangong-1 drops from orbit of 350 kilometers of 343 kilometers. The link will last 12 days. The second coupling experimental Shenzhou 9 will occur in 2012, according to official media, while the Shenzhou-8 will return to Earth, and Tiangong-1 return to the original orbit after both tests while awaiting the third link.

Is expected to remain Tiangong-1 into orbit two years

According to Wu, the docking experiments provide valuable information for the construction of a 60-ton space station and permanent manned China, scheduled for 2020 . According to the country's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10, which may be manned including perhaps the first woman astronaut, could be launched in 2012 also to join the laboratory module launched. The Tiangong-1, which is expected to remain in orbit two years, represents an important step in China's efforts to eventually build a manned space station , said the official press. The laboratory module also carries several scientific experiments. China is the third country to put a human into orbit after the Soviet Union and the U.S., first in the Shenzhou -5 on October 15, 2003 and has since sent two manned missions into space