China set to launch second space lab

TIL Desk/World/Beijing-China is set to launch its second experimental space lab as part of its efforts to build a permanent space station as part of its ambitious space programme that aims for a manned space station by around 2022. China will launch its Tiangong-2 space lab from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China’s Gobi desert today.

The ambitious space programme aims for a manned space station by around 2022.  Engineers have begun injecting propellant into the the Long March-2F T2 rocket, which will carry Tiangong-2 into space, said Wu Ping, deputy director of the manned space engineering office.  “All systems are ready for lift-off,” she said.  “The launch of Tiangong-2 will lay a solid foundation for the building and operation of a permanent space station in the future,”.

Once in space, the 8.6-tonne space lab will manoeuvre itself into an orbit about 380 kms above the Earth for initial on-orbit tests. It will transfer to a slightly higher orbit at about 393 kilometers above the Earth’s surface before the Shenzhou-11 manned spaceship ferries two astronauts into space to dock with the lab.