China set to launch second trial space station

China is set to launch a second experimental space station, as it looks to have a manned station by 2022.

State media announced that the station,Tiangong 2 is scheduled to launch just after 10 pm local time today from the Gobi desert.
 
Next month two astronauts will go to the station to conduct research.
 
Beijing has made space exploration a national priority and is the third country, after russia and the US, to put astronauts into space.

The mission follows the launch of the Tiangong 1 prototype in 2011, a smaller but also operational model.

BBC