Mission accomplished: China's space mission

Three Chinese astronauts on Monday entered an orbiting module for the first time, in a move broadcast live on China's state television network and a key step towards the nation's first space station.The astronauts, two men and a woman, passed into the Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace") module a little under three hours after it docked with the Shenzhou-9 ("Divine Vessel") spacecraft.The Shenzhou-9 took off Saturday carrying the first Chinese woman to go into space, before undergoing the third automatic docking China has ever performed, and the first for a manned mission.

A small Russian spacecraft in orbit appears to have been struck by Chinese space junk from a 2007 anti-satellite test, likely damaging the Russian craft, possibly severely, SPACE.com has learned.

China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft successfully docked with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space laboratory on Monday, completing the next step in the country's ambitious space mission.

This year has been a busy one for space missions, and it looks like next year will ramp things up even more.

China said Monday it will launch an unmanned spacecraft on Tuesday, taking its next step towards the goal of building its first space station by 2020.The Shenzhou VIII will blast off from the Gobi desert in China's northwest at 5:58am on Tuesday (2158 GMT Monday), the state Xinhua news agency said.It is due to join with the Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace", experimental module later this year in what would be the first Chinese docking in space. If that succeeds, the module will then dock with two more spacecraft, at least one of which will be manned, in 2012.

A spokesperson for China's manned space program said the manned Shenzhou-X spacecraft will be launched between June and August and dock with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module.

The Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-8 has completed its docking maneuvers and successfully returned to Earth. This puts China one step closer to having their own space station.

The SpaceX capsule was launched into orbit and then successfully guided back to Earth on Wednesday. NASA ordered up the demonstration as a first step to handing over space station supply runs and, eventually, astronaut rides to private businesses.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us