As Xiqiang mentions, Tiangong-2 was launched in September 2016 as an experimental space laboratory ahead of plans for a larger space station. It’s roughly the size of a single-decker bus, and has welcomed a crew on just one occasion – from October to November 2016.





Since then it has been uncrewed, orbiting our planet at a height of about 400 kilometers (250 miles). In June this year however, Tiangong-2 hit the headlines when astronomers spotted China lowering and raising the station’s orbit. This may have been a test ahead of the controlled re-entry next year.





China is hoping to use the lessons learned from Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 to start constructing a permanent space station in 2022. Not too much is known about this at the moment, although China has said it wants to allow international cooperation on board.





The nation has loftier ambitions, too. Earlier this year it launched the first part in an upcoming mission to the far side of the Moon. That entailed a relay satellite, which will return signals to Earth from a planned rover on the far side, due to launch later this year.





China is also planning to send a probe to Mars in 2020, and has its eye on returning a sample from the surface of Mars some point later. It may do this with a giant new rocket called Long-March 9 that it is constructing, which will rival NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).



