Chinese space lab lifts today

China plans to launch its Tiangong-2 space lab today, at 14:00 UTC.

The lab is 10.4 meters in length and 3.35 meters in maximum diameter. Two astronauts at a time can use the lab, for up to 30 days, before returning to terra firma.

China has plans for robotic resupply missions using its Tianzhou-1 craft.

The lab has a planned life of two years and is expected to conduct experiments on "aerospace medicine, space physics and biology as well as on-orbit equipment repairs in areas such as quantum key transmission, space atomic clock and solar storm research."