Details of Chinese space station disclosed

China Central Television (CCTV) has released extremely rare footage showing Chinese engineers building the main parts of the nation's first space station.

The fifth episode of the documentary series "China Reinvents Itself" introduces how China is going to build its own space station, as well as the core details of the space station.

The plan is to launch the core module, "Tianhe-1," sometime in 2018. Construction on the space station is expected to be finished around 2022.

The Chinese space station will be made up of 3 separate parts, including the core module "Tianhe-1," as well as two separate laboratories.

Testing on these modules are underway at Tianjin Aerospace City, which is a part of the China Academy of Space Technology.

The current International Space Station is set to be retired in 2024, leaving China as the only country in the world to operate a space station.