Continuing With Docking Experiments With A Goal Of A Chinese Space Station

China was expected to launch an unmanned spacecraft Tuesday which will join the Tiangong-1 "Heavenly Palace" experimental module boosted into orbit September 29. The two spacecraft will conduct docking experiments as China moves towards construction of its own space station.

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The Chinese space agency hopes to have a manned orbiting outpost by 2020, according to the French News Service AFP. If the unmanned docking experiments are successful, China plans additional docking exercises, including at least one manned test, next year.

While China has been in the manned spaceflight arena since 2003, they are still perfecting docking technology similar to what was used by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

The state news agency Xinhua said the launch was planned 0558 local time from the Gobi desert Tuesday morning. The news agency said the success of the docking technology is "crucial" to the country's ambitious plans for a manned space station.

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