China achieves successful docking in orbit
03 Nov 2011
Beijing: China successfully docked an unmanned spacecraft in orbit above the Earth on Thursday as part of its plans to launch a manned space station by 2020.
The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong 1 space lab module, which was already in orbit. The two craft will orbit the Earth together for 12 days.
Shenzhou 8 will return to Earth on Nov 17.
China has become the third nation to complete an unmanned docking, after Russia and the United States.
The docking is the latest step in China's three-part programme of space exploration. The first, completed in 2003, involved achieving manned spaceflight, making China the third country to independently send a person into orbit.
The stage currently underway includes spacewalks and remote docking procedures. Today's successful docking and Zhai Zhigang's 2008 spacewalk are some of the milestones.