--- title: China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2 description: Two astronauts will dock with the station for a month canonical: https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T15:54:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:30.817Z article:section: Science og:title: China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2 og:description: Two astronauts will dock with the station for a month og:url: https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt855deb2068828fe6/6988a63aab6d7784ad6ab3d7/china-space-station-tiangong-2-2020.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: China Space og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2 twitter:description: Two astronauts will dock with the station for a month twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt855deb2068828fe6/6988a63aab6d7784ad6ab3d7/china-space-station-tiangong-2-2020.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2 by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2016 3:54 PM UTC  The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tiangong-2 module blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 15, 2016. The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tiangong-2 module blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 15, 2016.Chinatopix—AP by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2016 3:54 PM UTC China launched its second space station, Tiangong 2, on Thursday, according to [state media reports](http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-09/15/c%5F135689787.htm). A Long March 7 rocket carried the station into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Next month, the Shenzou 11 spaceship will carry two astronauts and dock with the station for a month. This development comes five years after the country launched its first space station, Tiangong 1, in September 2011\. The new station marks a step forward for China, which hopes to send a mission to Mars in the not-so-distant future, the [_Associated Press_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/15/world/asia/ap-as-china-space.html). The Tiangong 2, whose name means “Heavenly Palace,” will be used to test space technology and conduct medical and space experiments, according to the Associated Press. After this launch, China wants to create a manned space station by around 2022, _the_ [_BBC_ reported](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37370278), and the country has said [it plans](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37171942) to land a rover on Mars by 2020. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/"},"headline":"China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2","datePublished":"2016-09-15T15:54:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:30.817Z","description":"Two astronauts will dock with the station for a month","url":"https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/","keywords":["Space","Tech","China","space station"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt855deb2068828fe6/6988a63aab6d7784ad6ab3d7/china-space-station-tiangong-2-2020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt855deb2068828fe6/6988a63aab6d7784ad6ab3d7/china-space-station-tiangong-2-2020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"China Space","caption":"China Space","creditText":"Chinatopix—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4495308/china-launches-second-space-station-tiangong-2/","name":"China Launches Second Space Station, Tiangong 2"}}]}] ```