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 Advancing China's space program is a priority for Beijing, with
President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as
a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions Beijing has
tested anti-satellite missiles.
China insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, but the
U.S. Defense Department has highlighted its increasing space
capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed to prevent
adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
The "core module" for the space station would be called the
"Tianhe-1", the Chinese word for galaxy or Milky Way, Wang
Zhongyang, spokesman for the China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corp, told Xinhua.
"Two space labs will be launched later and dock with the core
module, Tianhe-1," he said. "The construction of the space station
is expected to finish in 2022."
 It gave no details of what the "core module" would consist.
"If the International Space Station, which has extended its service,
is retired by 2024, China's new space station will be the only
operational one in outer space," Wang added.
In a manned space mission in 2013, three Chinese astronauts spent 15
days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, the
Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1.
This year, China will launch the Tiangong 2 and Shenzhou 11
spacecraft, which will carry two astronauts and dock with Tiangong
2, Xinhua added.
Next year, China's first cargo ship, Tianzhou 1, will attempt to
dock with Tiangong 2, it said.
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China also plans a space telescope similar to the Hubble Space
Telescope, which will "be on a separate space unit and share orbit
alongside the space station", Wang added.
Xinhua, in a separate report, said China was also working on its own
reusable rocket technologies and has already built a prototype
model.
"The experiment has laid solid foundation for the realization of
reusable rockets in the country," an unnamed source told Xinhua.
China has been moving to develop its space program for military,
commercial and scientific purposes, but is still playing catch-up to
established space powers the United States and Russia.
China's Jade Rabbit moon rover landed on the moon in late 2013 to
great national fanfare, but soon began experiencing severe technical
difficulties.
The Jade Rabbit and the Chang'e 3 probe that carried it there marked
the first "soft landing" on the moon since 1976. Both the United
States and the Soviet Union had accomplished the feat earlier.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie)
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