China successfully launched Monday the lab module Mengtian, the last "building block" for its first space station, which will operate for up to 15 years, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
The Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket, carrying Mengtian, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 3:37 p.m. Beijing time. About eight minutes later, the module separated from the rocket and entered its preset orbit, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
As China has been steadily moving ahead with space development projects in recent years, expectations are growing that the competition between it and the United States will intensify in the field.
Mengtian measures some 18 meters in length and about 4 meters in diameter and weighs about 23 tons, according to local media reports. It will join the Tianhe core module and the Wentian lab component to complete the three-module Tiangong space station.
"The building of Tiangong into a national space laboratory with three modules marks a milestone in China's three-decade effort to advance its manned space program," which was initiated in 1992, Xinhua said.
Three Chinese astronauts are currently staying aboard the core module.
President Xi Jinping pledged at a key congress of the ruling Communist Party earlier this month to accelerate efforts to boost China's strength in aerospace.
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