space station vs space laboratory

space station and space laboratory both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
space station	Yes	No	No	No
space laboratory	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, space station and space laboratory are synonyms defined as:

space station and space laboratory: a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research

Other synonyms of space station include space platform.

space station (noun)	space laboratory (noun)
a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research	a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research