China completes nation's first space docking (Update)

The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft joined onto the Tiangong-1 experimental module just after 1.36 am (1736 GMT Wednesday), silently coupling more than 343 kilometres (213 miles) above the Earth's surface, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme.

The Shenzhou vehicle, whose name translates as "divine vessel", is a modified version of the capsules that took the first Chinese astronauts into space as part of the rising power's ambitious exploration programme.

China aims to complete construction of a space station by 2020, a goal that requires it to perfect docking technology -- a delicate manoeuvre that the Russians and Americans successfully completed in the 1960s.

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Graphic on China's first orbital docking of two spacecraft, succesfully executed on Thursday in a major step towards a manned space station.

China sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

Chinese netizens applauded the completion of the delicate manoeuvre.

"Our motherland's aerospace technology is powerful enough to rival world powers, I'm so happy and proud of such a powerful country," one person posted on Sina's popular Twitter-like weibo service.

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Chinese scientists monitor the docking of the Tiangong-1 space lab module and the Shenzhou VIII spacecraft in space at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu on November 3, 2011.

"Breakthroughs in and acquisition of space docking technologies are vital to the... development strategy of our manned space programme," Hu said.

The docking took eight minutes and was aided by microwave radars, laser distance measurers and video cameras.

"To link up two vehicles travelling at 7.8 kilometres per second in orbit, with a margin of error of no more than 20 centimetres, is like finding a needle in a haystack," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space programme.

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China's Long March-2F/H rocket carrying the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou VIII blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on November 1. The Shenzhou vehicle, whose name translates as "divine vessel", is a modified version of the capsules that took the first Chinese astronauts into space as part of the rising power's ambitious exploration programme.

He said the country was now equipped with the technology and capacity to construct a space station, adding that the Shenzhou VIII might be used as the prototype for a series of spaceships.

The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft took off on Tuesday from the Jiuquan base in the northwestern province of Gansu, from where Tiangong-1 -- or "Heavenly Palace" -- also launched on September 29.

Wu told reporters that the two vessels would stay together for around 12 days, after which they would briefly separate and come together again a second time, before the Shenzhou VIII returns by itself to Earth on November 17.

China plans to make more than 20 manned space voyages in the next decade, Xinhua said.

A Chinese astronaut trainer is among six volunteers who will emerge on Friday into the outside world after spending almost 18 months in isolation at a Russian research centre to test the effects on humans of a flight to Mars.

China began its manned spaceflight programme in 1990 after buying Russian technology and in 2003 became the third country to send humans into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

In September 2008, the Shenzhou VII, piloted by three astronauts, carried out China's first space walk.

If the current mission is a success, China will launch two more spacecraft next year to dock with Tiangong-1 -- the Shenzhou IX and Shenzhou X -- at least one of which will be manned.

Two women are among the astronauts who are training for that mission, Xinhua said. If they are chosen to go, they will be the first women to be sent into space by China.

In preparation for the manned flight, two life-size dummies have been placed on board Shenzhou VIII.

Electronic data will be transmitted back to Earth to help researchers assess the impact of the flight on human breathing, temperature and blood pressure.

The spacecraft is also being used by Chinese and German researchers to conduct joint experiments in life sciences and microgravity, the first time another country has been given any access to China's manned space programme.

(c) 2011 AFP