China launches research module to orbit Earth

So what happens when we shelf every bit of our manned space missions and give up even trying to do anything further to assist the space station and retain our dominance in space?
CHINA happens.
China will now take the lead in the space department by launching its first start to their own space station, hopefully it will be as high quality as their crappy products they churn out for the world market.

Thanks Obama, You jackass.

SFGate
China launched an experimental module to lay the groundwork for a future space station on Thursday, underscoring its ambitions to become a major space power over the coming decade.

The box car-size Tiangong-1 module was shot into space from the Jiuquan launch center on the edge of the Gobi Desert aboard a Long March 2FT1 rocket.

It is to move into an orbit 217 miles above Earth and conduct surveys of Chinese farmland using special cameras, along with experiments involving growing crystals in zero gravity.

China then plans to launch an unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to practice remote-controlled docking maneuvers with the module, possibly within the next few weeks. Two more missions, at least one of them manned, are to meet up with it next year for further practice, with astronauts staying for up to one month.

The 8.5-ton module, whose name translates as "Heavenly Palace-1," is to stay aloft for two years, after which two other experimental modules are to be launched for additional tests before the actual station is launched in three sections between 2020 and 2022.