Space: China conquers final frontier

China is to send its second woman astronaut into orbit on its longest mission yet, space officials said Monday, as the country works towards building a space station. The Shenzhou-10 -- the name means "Divine Vessel" -- will be launched on a Long March rocket at 0938 GMT Tuesday, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme, told a news conference.

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.

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.

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.

From earthly orbit to the deepest reaches of the Pacific Ocean, China has notched up two more firsts.

China launches Shenzhou-9 rocket with first female astronaut, it will dock with China's orbiting space laboratory.

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.

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.