BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The maritime monitoring vessel Yuanwang-5 has arrived at its designated area in the Pacific Ocean to track the upcoming space journey of the Tiangong-2 space lab.

China will launch its Tiangong-2 space lab from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi desert at 10:04 p.m. Thursday, the most recent stage in its increasingly ambitious space program, the aim of which is a manned space station by around 2022.