Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with an experimental
space module on Monday, the latest milestone in China's ambitious
campaign to build a space station.
The Shenzhou 9 and its
three-person crew, which includes China's first woman in space Liu Yang,
linked with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, with state
television showing the pictures live.
Almost three hours
later, the blue jumpsuit-wearing mission commander, Jing Haipeng,
entered the module followed by colleague Liu Wang and Liu Yang, the
first time China has been able to transfer astronauts between two
orbiting craft.
Rendezvous and docking exercises between the
two vessels are an important hurdle in China's efforts to acquire the
technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can
house astronauts for long periods.
During the 13-day mission,
the astronauts will work and sleep aboard Tiangong 1, a trial module
that includes an exercise bike and a video telephone booth, according to
media.
The mission has been accompanied by a blaze of
national pride and has been given blanket coverage by state media, down
to discussion on how flying a space ship is a bit like driving a car and
how the astronauts will be able to spice up their food with chilli
sauce.
China is still far from catching up with the
established space superpowers, the United States and Russia. The
Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station.
But the docking mission is the latest show of China's
growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting
priorities have held back US manned space launches.
This is China's fourth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country's first person in orbit.
The
United States will not test a new rocket to take people into space
until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a
priority.
But NASA has begun investing in US firms to provide
commercial spaceflight services and is spending about $3 billion a year
on a new rocket and capsule to send astronauts to the moon, asteroids
and eventually to Mars.
China plans an unmanned moon landing
and deployment of a moon rover. Scientists have raised the possibility
of sending a man to the moon, but not before 2020.
