First Step Toward Planned Space Station

Two Chinese spacecraft successfully docked Wednesday, marking China's first step in an ambitious plan to built and man its own space station by 2020.

The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft, which was launched earlier this week, docked with the Tiangong-1 module which had been launched last month. The Shenzhou spacecraft, which translates to "Divine Vessel," is a varient of the capsule which China developed for its nacaent manned space program in 2003.

"Breakthroughs in and acquisition of space docking technologies are vital to the... development strategy of our manned space program," said Chinese President Hu Jintao in a statment released from the G20 summit in France.

Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, likened the docking of "two vehicles travelling at 7.8 kilometres per second in orbit, with a margin of error of no more than 20 centimetres, is like finding a needle in a haystack. This will make it possible for China to carry out space exploration on a larger scale," the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

The French News Agency AFP reports that the Xinhua news agency says China plans more than 20 manned spaceflights over the next 10 years. Two flights are planned next year, predicated on the success of the current mission. At least one of those is expected to be manned.

China's first woman astronaut is among those training for future manned missions.

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html