China on Monday launched the space lab module Mengtian, taking the construction of the country’s space station Tiangong into the final stage.
The Mengtian module, flying to join the two-module combination already about 400 kilometers above Earth, is the last “building block” that allows Tiangong to form a T-shape structure, the planned layout at the space station’s completion.
The new combination is projected to take shape after a succession of elaborately-maneuvered tasks including the docking and the subsequent in-orbit transposition.
The Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket, carrying Mengtian, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
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