The Beijing Aerospace Control Center announced on Sunday that the Tiangong-2 space lab has been successfully maneuvered to its preset orbit 393 kilometers above Earth's surface and is now awaiting for the arrival of its next crewed space mission Shenzhou-11 that is scheduled to launch next month.

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Tiangong-2 has already gone through nine days of on-orbit testing before it was maneuvered last Sunday, Li Jian, deputy head of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, said, according to state-run Xinhua News agency. The space lab initially entered an orbit of 197 x 373 km before performing two orbital maneuvers to raise its orbit to an altitude of 368 x 378 km, NASA Space Flight reported.

 "All test results suggest the space lab is in good condition," Li noted.

Meanwhile, preparations for the launching of Shenzhou-11 are now entering a critical processing flow as works on the space capsule and launch vehicle take place, NASA Space Flight noted.

The Shenzhou-11 spaceship is anticipated to take two astronauts to the Tiangong-2 station. The astronauts will conduct research related to biology, psychology, and medicine for a month.

Top Examiner reported that the docking of the spacecraft will be China's first simulation of future space station docking technologies, which will witness Shenzhou-11 "catching up with the space station using its own space maneuvering capacities."

Tiangong-2, which means "Heavenly Palace," blasted off into the sky on board a Long March 2F on Sept. 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.

On the other hand, China is also planning to create a manned space station by 2020 as well as land a rover on Mars by 2020.

TagsTiangong-2, Shenzhou 11 Spacecraft 2016, Shenzhou 11, space station, china