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Launch of Tiangong-1 a breakthrough for China: expert

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China's successful launch of its first space lab module is a breakthrough for China in the domains of science, economy and politics, a Russian expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Andrey Ostrovsky, deputy director of the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the blastoff of Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, paved the way for China to operate a permanent space station around 2020 and become the world's third country to do so.

Only two countries have operated space stations before, namely the United States and the Soviet Union. "Now, China joins the group," the expert said.

Tiangong-1 blasted off at 9:16 p.m. Beijing Time (1316 GMT) Thursday in a northwestern desert area as the nation envisions the coming of its space station era in about ten years.

The 8.5-tonne module, with a length of 10.4 meters and a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters, will test space-docking with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year.

Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 would follow to dock with the lab module in the next two years.

Ostrovsky said the manned space program showed that China's economy is capable of performing such a large-scale space project.

"The thing is that after that launch, Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 would follow. So this is not a one-off achievement but a deeply planned and financed program," he said.

"The country has found 'brains' and 'hands' to make the task feasible," the expert said, adding that "China fulfills its program of space explorations at a breathtaking pace."

Ostrovsky said the launch of Tiangong-1 would create a new reality, as there will be two permanent manned stations in the orbit in the future.

China's project would allow the international scientific and engineering community to conduct more and bolder experiments, as research on geography, astronomy and bio-technology in a low-gravity environment, such as that of a space station, will bring greater achievements than those conducted on the surface of the Earth, he said.

"China's project gives more choices to the international community in space explorations," Ostrovsky said.