
China has successfully completed its first ever manual docking of a spacecraft with another space module as astronauts on the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong-1 lab module without relying on an automated system. State television broadcast images of Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, smiling after completing the exercise. [...]

Shenzhou-9 capsule, with its crew of three, including the first Chinese woman astronaut, has docked with the Tiangong-1 space lab. The coupling of the vehicles occurred just after 14:00 Beijing time (06:00 GMT) over China itself. The latest Shenzhou mission was launched on Saturday, taking the nation’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, into orbit. Thirty-three-year [...]

China is about to launch its fourth manned space mission and is sending a crew of three, including the nation’s first female astronaut, to the orbiting Tiangong space lab. Chinese Shenzhou-9 capsule is set to lift off from the Jiuquan spaceport on the edge of the Gobi desert at 18:37 local time (10:37 GMT). A [...]