China on Thursday launched the first module of its new space station, state television, which is a milestone in Beijing's efforts to put humanity into space.
The Tianhe core module, which has the resources to support life and space, was launched from Wenchang in China's tropical province of Hainan with a Long-March 5B rocket
The space station is expected to be fully operational by 2022 after around a decade of operations to deliver multiple components and integrate them into orbit.
Billions of dollars have been spent on space exploration as China seeks to ensure its global growth and technological growth, following in the footsteps of the United States and Russia.
Live footage broadcast by state-run CCTV showed the crew of the space program cheering as the rocket energized the blazing air from the launch site.
Once completed, the Chinese space station is expected to remain on Earth's lowest point between 400 and 450 km above the Earth for 15 years.
While China has not planned to use its airspace for international cooperation on the ISS scale, Beijing has said it is open to foreign cooperation without providing details on the extent of such cooperation.
The world has come a long way since the first satellite in 1970.
It put China's first "taikonaut" in place in 2003 and sent an investigation into Mars orbit earlier this year.
China launched the Tiangong-1 lab, its first module designed to lay the foundation for a permanent channel, in September 2011.
China has prioritized space exploration in recent years, with a view to becoming a major space power by 2030.
By 2045, the hope is to establish a system that uses thousands of space planes a year and carries tens of thousands of tons of cargo and passengers.
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