First Step Towards Building A Manned Outpost By 2020

China said it planned to launch the first component of its own space station Thursday, with the expectation of having an inhabited outpost by 2020.

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Chinese space authorities said the Tiangogn-1 ... or "Heavenly Palace" ... was expected to launch in the early afternoon GMT from the Gobi desert on Thursday. The launch vehicle is a Long March 2F rocket.

The second planned launch later this year would be the Shenzhou VIII spacecraft, which would rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1 in the first Chinese docking is space. The French news service AFP reports that the Chinese are using technology identical to that developed by the Soviets in the 1960s.

The ultimate goal is for China to have a manned space station much like ISS by 2020. But first they have to show they have a viable and working docking system.

Australian space analyst Morris Jones told AFP that the U.S. "strongly objects" to the Chinese space station effort. China became the world's third spacefaring nation with its first manned launch in 2003.

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html