China docks rocket and transfers astronauts

BEIJING: Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with an experimental space module yesterday, 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. 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-phone booth.


China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the US 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 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 US will not test a new rocket to take people into space until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a priority. – Reuters

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