Space: China launches first part of new mini space station

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, A child stands near a giant screen showing the images of the Tianhe space station at an exhibition

China has successfully launched the main section for its first space station.

The Tianhe module - which means 'heavenly harmony' - blasted off from Hainan, in southern China.

It will be the first of 11 missions into space to create China's permanent station.

The country hopes to have it completed by the end of 2022.

Image source, AFP

Image caption, The first section will launch aboard one of China's most powerful rockets - the Long March 5

A group of 12 Chinese astronauts are currently training to fly to, and live in, the station, which will be able to hold three members of crew.

Tianhe will be much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS), which launched back in 1998 and has had astronauts living on board ever since.

China's space programme has continued to grow since beginning plans for a space station in the 1990s.

The country put its first astronaut into space in October 2003 after years of successful rocket and commercial satellite launches,

Aiming for Mars and the Moon

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, This is a model of the Tianwen-1 rover

The Tianhe mission is the latest sign that China's space ambitions are growing.

In just a few weeks, the Chinese spacecraft, Tianwen-1, is due to land on Mars with its probe on the hunt for signs of life on the Red Planet.

Only the former Soviet Union (which was made up of Russia and other eastern European countries) and the United States have ever achieved that before.

China also announced last month that it would work with Russia to build a research facility on the Moon's surface.