Will China's fast pace in the space race fuel U.S. ambitions?

Hong Kong — China's ambitions for a space station of its own rocketed closer to reality on Thursday, as a Shenzhou-12 spacecraft roared to life and rocketed its human payload into orbit. Just before dusk, Chinese state media proudly broadcast that the mission's three astronauts had safely boarded the station's core module, known as Tianhe.

The three astronauts will spend the next three months — China's longest manned space mission to date — aboard the bus-sized cylinder. Tianhe is the first of four modules that will eventually become the Tiangong space station. Tiangong, which means Palace of Heaven, is scheduled for completion in just 18 months, by the end of 2022.  "I am excited. It's not every day that anybody puts up a new space station," said Quentin Parker, Director of Space Research at the University of Hong Kong. "They really are serious, I believe, in wanting to emerge as a very senior science power for the benefit of all mankind, not just China."