A screen grab from China's Central Televison show that the Long March II-F T1 carrier rocket carrying the Tiangong-1 space module blasts off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province, Sept 29, 2011.

JIUQUAN - China's first space lab module Tiangong-1 blasted off at 9:16 pm Beijing Time (1316 GMT) Thursday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest desert area.

The unmanned module, carried by Long March-II FT1 rocket, will test space docking with a spacecraft later this year, paving 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.