Yesterday's successful launch of the Tiangong-2 space lab will see China a "new phase" in its space program that will culminate with the building of its first space station, Tianhe-1, starting 2018.

Tiangong-2 was the payload of a Long March-2F rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Beijing declared the launch a success 20 minutes after blast-off.

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The space lab will maneuver into an orbit 380 kilometers above Earth for initial in-orbit tests. It will then ascend to its permanent orbit some 390 kilometers above Earth's surface.

This October, the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft will carry two Chinese astronauts into space to dock with Tiangong-2. The male astronauts will work in the lab for 30 days before returning to Earth.

In April 2017, China's first space cargo ship, Tianzhou-1 carrying fuel and other supplies, will dock with Tiangong-2. The astronauts will carry out experiments related to aerospace medicine, space physics and biology, such as quantum key distribution, atomic space clocks and solar storm research.

They will also conduct a space-Earth quantum key distribution and a laser communications experiment to facilitate space-to-ground quantum communication.

Then there's POLAR, a collaboration between Swiss, Polish and Chinese institutions to study gamma ray bursts, which are the most energetic events in the universe.

Tiangong-2, originally built as a back-up to Tiangong-1, has a length of 14 meters and a diameter of 3.4 meters. It weighs 8,500 kilograms.

The new station has a larger payload capacity, allowing improved living conditions for its crew of three astronauts. The crew will be able to survive for 20 days without resupply.

Tiangong-2 will also be equipped with a new robotic arm. it will be accompanied by a small Banxing-2 satellite for technology demonstrations.

Banxing-2 (the word means Companion Satellite) is a small technology development satellite that will capture images of the new station in orbit. Its predecessor, Banxing-1, accomplished the same mission for the Shenzhou 7 in September 2008.

TagsLauch of Tiangong-2, 15 September 2016., china, Tianhe-1, Tianzhou-1, Banxing-2