The carrier rocket sent a Shenzhou-ll spacecraft（航天器）with astronauts Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng into space. The rocket was fired from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centerthe Gobi desert. After two days in Earth's orbit, the spacecraft(be) to link up with China's space laboratory, called the Tiankong-2,name means“Heavenly Palace 2". The lab (place) into orbit last month.
The astronauts will spend 30 days on the Tiankong-2. They plan to perform (science) and spacecraft-related experiments and test systems for a future space station. Inwords, the Tiankong
2 laboratory will not be part of that space station. Its main goal is to practice the techniques and the(technology) that they will be (use)to build and operate that final space station.
It is predicted that the Chinese space station will be built mostly by machine. China hopes to have the space station (complete) by 2022 and it is expected to operate for at least 10 years.
China also plans to land a probe（探测器）on Mars by 2020. Until now, China has completed a total of five manned space missions. And, in 2003,it (successful)landed a probe on the moon.
