BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Commander-in-chief of China's manned space program Chang Wanquan announced Thursday night that the launch of Tiangong-1 space lab module is successful. China's first space lab module Tiangong-1 blasted off at 9:16 p.m. Beijing Time (1316 GMT) Thursday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest desert area. The unmanned module, carried by Long March-2FT1 rocket, will test space docking with a spacecraft later this year, _ the way for China to become the third country in the world to operate a permanent space station around 2020. The Tiangong-1 will orbit the Earth for about one month to await Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft. Once the two vehicles successfully rendezvous , they will conduct the first space docking at a height of 340 kilometers above Earth surface. After two docking tests, Tiangong-1 will await Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 in the next two years, according to a plan of China's manned space program. The 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1, with a length of 10.4 meters and maximum diameter of 3.35 meters, provides a room of 15 cubic meters for two to three astronauts to live and work. Zhang Shancong, deputy chief designer of the Tiangong-1, told Xinhua that the module carries special cameras which will take hyperspectral  images of China's vast farmlands to detect heavy metal pollution and pesticide residue as well as plant disease. Moreover, scientists on the ground will also conduct experiments on photonic crystal , a new material expected to revolutionize information technology, in the low-gravity environment inside the Tiangong-1 as these experiments would be extremely difficult to conduct on Earth's surface. "China is clearly becoming a global power and its investments in areas like technology and space exploration reflect this," said Peter Singer, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. "It is a natural result of the growth in political and economic power and is to be expected," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, "China will turn its future space station into an international platform for space research and application. A space station could provide a low-gravity environment for research on geography, astronomy and bio-technology, which will bring unimaginably greater achievements than those conducted on Earth's surface. " "The Chinese nation has pursued peace since ancient times," Zhou also said, "China's ultimate intention with the space program is to explore space resources and make use of them for mankind's well-being." Tiangong-1 will do the following things in the future Except that it will  _  .
test space docking with a spacecraft later this year. detect pollution and pesticide residue and disease. provides a room for astronauts to live and work. operate a permanent space station.