Chinese officials at a desert rocket base described plans for their new space station and for reusable rockets, as well as travel beyond near-Earth orbit.
The crew will set off from a secretive desert launch center to rendezvous with fellow astronauts aboard Tiangong, the country’s newly completed outpost in orbit.
To launch part of its space station to orbit, China used a large rocket that cannot control its atmospheric re-entry. It is the third time such a rocket has been used.