China will launch its Tiangong-2 space lab from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi desert at 10:04 pm Thursday as part of an increasingly ambitious space program that aims for a manned space station by around 2022. 
The new lab is able to host astronauts for much longer than its predecessor, the Tiangong 1, which was launched in 2011. It has two cabins, one for astronauts and experiments, the other for equipment, Xinhua reported. 
Engineers have begun injecting propellant into the Long March-2F T2 rocket, which will carry Tiangong-2 into space, Deputy director of the manned space engineering office Wu Ping said. 
The Tiangong-2, and its predecessor Tiangong-1, are prototypes for China's ultimate goal -- a permanent 20-ton space station, which is expected to launch after 2020. 
More than 40 space science and application experiments will be conducted aboard Tiangong-2. 
In April 2017, China's first cargo ship, Tianzhou-1, will also be sent into orbit to dock with Tiangong-2 and provide it with fuel and other supplies.

Source : QNA