Beijing - China on Monday began construction of a new space centre designed to launch satellites and orbital space stations, state media said. The space centre on the southern island of Hainan was scheduled for completion by 2013 and would "allow China to take part in more international commercial space launches", the official Xinhua news agency quoted project director Wang Weichang as saying.
The Hainan Space Satellite Launch Centre, China's fourth space centre, would be used mainly to launch satellites, large space stations and deep-space probe satellites, Wang said.
China plans to build an integrated ground-space network for space exploration and manned space research, including a permanent space laboratory by 2020.
It first sent an astronaut into space in 2005, becoming the third nation to do so after the United States and Russia.
The Shenzhou-VII manned spacecraft completed a three-day mission that included China's first ever spacewalk last September.
China is also running a moon exploration programme alongside its manned space flight programme.
It has not ruled out a manned landing on the moon, but space analysts have reported no signs that China is making active preparations for a manned moon mission.
