Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and the current deputy director of the country's manned space program, has announced China will launch its second orbiting space laboratory in 2016.

The announcement was made at the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) Congress in Beijing. 

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Once the space laboratory, named Tiangong-2, is launched in 2016, China plans on orbiting the cargo spaceships, Shenzhou-11 and Tianzhou-1 that will dock with Tiangong-2.

China previously sent similar cargo spaceships to dock with their first laboratory, Tiangong-1. Chinese astronauts conducted space medicine and technological experiments while advancing their scientific missions.

Launching this laboratory is a step towards placing a Chinese astronaut on the moon. This is only a small part of China's giant space plan.

In 2018, China plans on launching an experimental core space station module. Four years later, construction of the Chinese space station will be finished.

The Chinese space station announcement has caused significant interest in the international community since around that time, the International Space Station (ISS) run by the USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Europe is to be retired.

Astronauts from around the globe will probably dock in China's space station for further research and experiments.

Beijing sees their progress in space as a triumph for the Communist system that once started out in poverty.

They also continue to state they will keep an open mind on international collaborations when it comes to space endeavors.

TagsSpace Lab, yang liwei