Beijing - China took a crucial step towards
fulfilling its ambition to set up a manned space station on Thursday by
completing its first successful docking high above Earth, state media reported.
The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft joined onto the
Tiangong-1 experimental module just after 1.36 am (1736 GMT Wednesday),
silently coupling more than 343 kilometres (213 miles) above the Earth's
surface, the Xinhua news agency said.
The Shenzhou vehicle, whose name translates as
"divine vessel", is a modified version of the capsules that took the
first Chinese astronauts into space as part of the rising power's ambitious
exploration programme.
China aims to complete construction of a space
station by 2020, a goal that requires it to perfect docking technology -- a
delicate manoeuvre that the Russians and Americans successfully completed in
the 1960s.
The technique is hard to master because the
two vessels, placed in the same orbit and revolving around the Earth at
thousands of kilometres per hour, must come together very gently to avoid
destroying each other.
China sees its space programme as a symbol of
its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's
success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
Chinese leaders including Premier Wen Jiabao
were at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center to watch a live broadcast
of the docking, while President Hu Jintao, who is in France for the G20 summit,
sent a congratulatory message.
"Breakthroughs in and acquisition of
space docking technologies are vital to the three-phase development strategy of
our manned space programme," Hu said.
The docking took eight minutes and was aided
by microwave radars, laser distance measurers and video cameras.
The two spacecraft, each weighing about eight
tonnes, smoothly captured, cushioned, connected and locked onto each other,
Xinhua reported.
"To link up 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," Zhou Jianping, chief
designer of China's manned space programme, was quoted as saying.
"This will make it possible for China to
carry out space exploration on a larger scale."
He said the country was now equipped with the
technology and capacity to construct a space station, adding that the Shenzhou
VIII might be used as the prototype for a series of spaceships.
The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft took off on
Tuesday from the Jiuquan base in the northwestern province of Gansu, from where
Tiangong-1 -- or "Heavenly Palace" -- also launched on September 29.
The two vessels are due to stay linked for
around 12 days before separating and uniting again later, Wu Ping, spokeswoman
for China's manned space programme, told state media.
The Jiuquan base refused to comment on the
docking when contacted by AFP.
Chinese netizens applauded their country's
successful completion of the delicate manoeuvre.
"Our motherland's aerospace technology is
powerful enough to rival world powers, I'm so happy and proud of such a
powerful country," one person posted on Sina's popular Twitter-like weibo
service.
China plans to make more than 20 manned space
voyages in the next decade, Xinhua said.
A Chinese astronaut trainer is among six
volunteers who will emerge on Friday into the outside world after spending
almost 18 months in isolation at a Russian research centre to test the effects
on humans of a flight to Mars.
China began its manned spaceflight programme
in 1990 after buying Russian technology and in 2003 became the third country to
send humans into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
In September 2008, the Shenzhou VII, piloted
by three astronauts, carried out China's first space walk.
If the current mission is a success, China
will launch two more spacecraft next year to dock with Tiangong-1 -- the
Shenzhou IX and Shenzhou X -- at least one of which will be manned.
Two women are among the astronauts who are
training for that mission, Xinhua said. If they are chosen to go, they will be
the first women to be sent into space by China.
In preparation for the manned flight, two
life-size dummies have been placed on board Shenzhou VIII.
Electronic data will be transmitted back to
Earth to help researchers assess the impact of the flight on human breathing,
temperature and blood pressure.
The spacecraft is also being used by Chinese
and German researchers to conduct joint experiments in life sciences and
microgravity, the first time another country has been given any access to
China's manned space programme.
Boris Cambreleng
AFP
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