China Plans Its First Manned Space Docking - New York Times

HONG KONG â€" China’s space agency said on Saturday that it will launch astronauts later in June to perform the country’s first manned space docking, the latest step in the country’s ambitious plan for space exploration.

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with the Tiangong 1 orbital module “sometime in mid-June,” according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, quoting an unidentified spokesman for the country’s space program. The government did not say how long the mission will last.

Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the country’s manned space program, said the three-person crew may include female astronauts, Xinhua reported, but the decision will be made “on the very last condition.”

On Saturday the spacecraft and its carrier rocket were moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a rocket-launching complex in the Gobi Desert in northwest China. In the coming days, tests will be performed on the selected astronauts, the spacecraft, carrier rocket and ground systems, according to Xinhua, citing the spokesman for the space agency.

One crew member will remain aboard the Shenzhou 9 as a precautionary measure while the others enter the orbital module, Xinhua said.

Beijing announced last December a five-year plan for space exploration that includes launching a space lab and collecting samples from the moon by 2016. The government has previously vowed to reach the moon and launch its own manned space station by 2020.

The plan, released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, shows how Beijing intends to draw on its military and civilian resources to reach the goals. The People’s Liberation Army drives China’s space program, and civilian institutions such as universities and laboratories are subject to the military’S efforts.

China is considered a leader in the business of launching satellites, but analysts say the country is still years behind the United States in its space program. The Chinese government has relied on its own aerospace engineers and spent billions of dollars in recent years to build its space program. In 2003 the country carried out its first successful human spaceflight, and in 2008 Chinese astronauts took their first spacewalk.

China completed its first space docking last November when the Shenzhou 8 capsule coupled with the Tiangong 1 orbital module by remote control, an event that was broadcast live on national television and observed by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao from the control center in Beijing.