By a long March 5B rocket and from the tropical island of Hainan in southern China, China launched, the third and final part of its space station, which it is building

This stage would allow the Chinese Tiangong space station to be fully operational and provide Beijing with a permanent presence in space.

The segment called "Mengtian" (dream of the heavens) was launched at 15:27 local time (07: 27 GMT)

Mengtian is the third and final major part of the Tiangong station, which takes the form of a Foreign Letter t, as the assembly of the station required 11 tasks.

The mission will allow the transfer of advanced practical equipment , and the station will remain in a low orbit ranging from 400 to 450 kilometers above the Earth for at least ten years with the stated goal of maintaining a long-term human presence in space.

Although China does not expect international cooperation on its space station, Beijing has stressed that it is open to cooperation with foreign parties.

For decades, China has been investing several billion dollars in its space program.

China's ambition to build a space station has been bolstered in part by the U.S. rejection of Chinese participation in the International Space Station program, in which the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan are cooperating.

Tiangong is China's Third Space Station after its two predecessors, which were launched in 2011 and 2016.

China has been excluded from the International Space Station due to us concern that its space program is run by the ruling Communist Party's military wing, the people's Liberation Army.