China on Monday successfully launched manned spacecraft Shenzhou-11 carrying two astronauts who will remain in space for 33 days, the longest mission in the country's manned space program to date.
The launch of a new manned space mission brings China closer to the establishment of a permanent space station, international experts say.
Spacecraft Shenzhou XI blasts off from Northwest China with two astronauts who will spend 30 days aboard the Tiangong II space laboratory.
The Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft will be launched at 7:30 am Monday Beijing Time, China's manned space program spokesperson said.
China may be the only country to have a space station in service in 2024, said Lei Fanpei, chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
Chinese scientists on Sunday maneuvered the country's Tiangong-2 space lab to a preset orbit 393 kilometers above Earth's surface, in preparation for a planned docking with the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft set to launch next month.
Scientific apparatus carried by Tiangong-2 began operational at around 6:41 pm Thursday Beijing Time after being on standby mode for nearly seven days since the space lab entered its preset orbit on Sept 15.
China's second space laboratory, the Tiangong II, began conducting in-orbit tests on Thursday, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
China's newest space laboratory, Tiangong II, will provide more comfortable digs to astronauts living aboard than its predecessor, Tiangong I, the spacecraft's designers said.
China's space lab Tiangong-2 has entered an in-orbit test track, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center said Friday.
China's Tiangong-2 space lab blasted off on Thursday, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program, which envisions a mission to Mars by the end of this decade and its own space station by around 2020.
China launched its second space laboratory, the Tiangong II, on Thursday night, which space officials said will become the country's largest scientific platform in space.
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