HONG KONG — The Heavenly Palace, the first module in China’s permanent space station, will be launched next year, a senior aerospace official confirmed Wednesday.

The official, Qi Faren, said the craft, an orbiting laboratory known in Mandarin as Tiangong-1, would initially serve as a docking station for other spacecraft. His remarks were carried by Xinhua, the official news agency. A model of the module was unveiled during New Year celebrations last year. The 8.5-ton laboratory is expected to be 30 feet long, with a crew of three.

The China National Space Administration said it planned three docking missions with the lab next year. The space agency’s long-range plans include a permanent space station that will incorporate the Tiangong-1, and a lunar mission by 2022.

China’s space program has made major inroads since it launched its first satellite in April 1970, a craft called Dong Fang Hong-1, or The East Is Red. In October 2003, China’s first manned spacecraft made 14 orbits of the Earth. The country’s first spacewalk took place 18 months ago. Aerospace experts and military officials say the Chinese military space program has made significant advancements in recent years, notably when it tested an antisatellite system in 2007, using a ballistic missile to shoot down one of its own weather satellites 540 miles up.