Tiangong 1 was China's first space laboratory, launched on September 29, 2011. It served as a platform for scientific experiments and technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit. The module was part of China's efforts to develop a permanent space station and conduct human spaceflight missions. The laboratory was visited by two crewed missions, Shenzhou 8 and Shenzhou 9, which successfully docked with it. Tiangong 1 operated until March 2016, when it was declared out of service. It re-entered Earth's atmosphere in April 2018, with most of it burning up upon re-entry.