Another 10 launches will send up two more modules where crews will conduct experiments, four cargo supply shipments and four missions with crews.

Chinese space authorities say the defunct Tiangong 1 space station mostly burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere over the central South Pacific.

After months of speculation that China's Tiangong-1 space station was out of control, the Chinese space agency confirmed this week that it would indeed fall to Earth in the latter half of 2017.