China launches space station lab module Mengtian

(ECNS) -- China on Monday launched the space lab module Mengtian, taking construction of the country's space station Tiangong into the final stage.

The lab module's carrier, a Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket, blasted off at 3:37 pm at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan.

The Mengtian module, flying to join the two-module combination already about 400 kilometers above Earth, is the last "building block" that allows Tiangong to form a T-shape structure, the planned layout at the space station's completion.

The new combination is projected to take shape after a succession of elaborately-maneuvered tasks including the docking and the subsequent in-orbit transposition.