China is set to launch a second space lab into orbit Thursday, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to have a permanent space presence.

A Long March 2F rocket is expected to blast off at 10.04 p.m. local time (10:04 a.m. ET) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert carrying the lab, known as Tiangong 2 or “Heavenly Palace,” state media reported.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket is carried to the launch tower last week.

A spacecraft will ferry a two-man crew to the lab in October – China’s first manned mission since 2013. The astronauts will remain in the lab for a month, where they will be carrying out experiments related to medicine, physics and biology. It’s China’s longest mission yet.

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China's space race

01:57 - Source: CNN

“Tiangong is a precursor testbed of capabilities, building toward the large space station has always been the culminating goal of the Shenzhou program,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the Naval War College specializing in space programs and space security.

Shenzhou-10 was China's fifth manned space mission. The Shenzhou-10 spaceship, propelled by a Long March-2F rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on June 11, 2013.

The crew for this mission included a woman, Wang Yaping, and two male astronauts, Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang.

Nie, Zhang and Wang discuss technical issues during training in April 2012, a year before the 15-day mission.

The astronauts had to undergo a series of tests in their pressure suits prior to the mission.

Wang undergoes a cardiovascular endurance test a few weeks before the mission.

Nie undergoes an isokinetic muscle test.

Zhang practices entering the return capsule on May 31, 2013.

Zhang, left, Nie, center, and Wang, right, during a training session in the return capsule.

Nie, Zhang and Wang wave to onlookers the day before the start of the mission.

The Shenzhou-10 spacecraft is transferred to the launch site at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the day of the launch.

Hours before launch, the Shenzhou-10 spaceship arrives at the launch site.

After the 15-day mission, the Shenzhou-10's return capsule landed successfully in Inner Mongolia on June 26, 2013.

After emerging from the return capsule, the astronauts wave to people on the ground.

Shenzhou-10: China's longest crewed space mission

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Rival to ISS

China’s space station is expected to be sent into orbit just as the US-led International Space Station goes out of service – making China potentially the only country with a permanent space presence.

European astronauts are said to already be learning Chinese in anticipation.

Since 2011, US Congress has barred NASA from contact with China’s space program because of national security fears.

China was late to the space race – it didn’t send its first satellite into space until 1970 – just after the US put the first man on the moon.

But over the last four decades, China has pumped enormous amounts of money and resources into research and training. Future plans include sending a robotic probe to Mars and a potential manned mission to the Moon.

“If the US does not change its policies very soon and begin to work with China in space, it will lose whatever leverage it might having in shaping Chinese space plans for the future, ” Johnson-Freese said.