China is set to launch a second experimental space station, as it looks to have a manned station by 2022, state media said.
The Tiangong 2 is scheduled to launch after 22:00 local time on Thursday from the Gobi desert.
China's space program has successfully launched and completed its first round in the space of exploration way back September 2011 when it launched the "Heavenly Palace" Tiangong-1 space laboratory.
According to reports, the next milestone will happen on Thursday when China will launch Tiangong-2 into orbit, the second "Heavenly Palace" lab that will get a visit from a pair of Chinese taikonauts in four to six weeks.
"A Long March 2-F rocket will launch from China's Jiuquan center in the Gobi Desert and carry the Tiangong-2 into orbit. A Shenzhou-11 spacecraft will ferry the taikonauts up for a monthlong stay on the lab," reported by Engadget.
While aboard, the said rocket will perform experiments essential to physics, bilogy and medicine.
The Tiangong-2 will alson get restocked by China's first robotic resupply mission Tianzhou-1, "Heavenly Vessel," in 2017.
China was noted to be making space exploration as a national priority and is considered the third country, after Soviet Union and the United States to put astronauts into space.
