CHINA’S first astronaut, Yang Liwei, revealed that China will launch the Tiangong-2 space lab in 2016 and will finish building a space station around 2022.

    Yang, who is vice director of China Manned Space Engineering Office, made the remarks at the Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), which opened in Beijing yesterday and will last until Monday.

    China will also launch a manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou-11, and the Tianzhou-1 cargo spaceship to dock with Tiangong-2, Yang said.

    The country’s first-generation astronauts are about to retire and new astronauts, including female astronauts, will be selected, Yang said.

    Three Chinese astronauts successfully completed a manual docking between the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module in June 2012, the first such attempt in China’s history of space exploration.

    More than 90 astronauts from 19 countries are attending the ASE congress in Beijing.

    The astronauts will visit Shenzhen, Tianjin and Xi’an for exchange activities. Various meetings and symposiums are scheduled during the event.

    Founded in 1985, the ASE is an international nonprofit professional and educational organization of over 395 members from 35 nations.

    (SD-Agencies)