Private spacecraft set for historic link

China announced Thursday (Feb. 28) that it will send three astronauts to space this summer on a docking mission to its orbiting lab, according to news reports.

The Hawthorne firm had planned a Feb. 7 launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla., but now says the spacecraft needs more work before it's ready. A new date has not been set.Hawthorne rocket venture Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Atlantis will dock with the International Space Station on Sunday for a weeklong rendezvous, two days after blasting off on a historic flight marking the final liftoff of the U.S. shuttle program.

The US shuttle Atlantis was headed for a Sunday rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on the final mission for the 25-year-old spacecraft.The shuttle began its 12-day trip Friday afternoon, when it blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida into a clear blue sky.The 32nd and final scheduled voyage for Atlantis, first launched in 1985, will take the astronauts to the orbiting space research facility, delivering an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian-built mini research module.

After thruster malfunctions following launch this morning, the Dragon Capsule has been forced to cancel tomorrow's planned rendezvous with the ISS. That's according to several people on twitter, including Dan Leone from Space News, and SpaceflightNow, who were listening to the feed from mission control:

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

Last week's link-up of a privately built space capsule with the international space station boosted the prospects of commercial spacecraft sending U.S. astronauts into orbit.