China will begin to build manned space station in 2019.

[Wizard ;x]

 

China will begin the construction of a permanent manned space station in 2019 after carrying out a successful refuelling in orbit of its cargo ship Tianzhou-1.

Tianzhou-1, the first cargo spacecraft of China, was launched on 20 April and completed the first of three attempts planned docking with the Tiangong-2 Space Lab Two days later, state media reported.

The refuelling, which lasted five days, was addressed by technicians from the Earth and completed on Thursday. It is a key milestone in China's plans to begin sending crew to a permanent space station for the 2022.

"After completing the pilot phase of space-flight missions, we will begin with the stage of development and construction. According to our plans, we will perform the assembly and the construction of the manned space station of China between 2019 and 2022," said the supervisor of the project, Wang Zhaoyao, at a press conference in Pekín.