CHINA took a crucial step towards fulfilling its ambition to set up a manned space station today by completing its first successful docking high above Earth, state media reported. The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft joined onto the Tiangong-1 experimental module at 0437 AEDT, silently coupling more than 343km above the Earth's surface, the Xinhua news agency said.
The spacecraft, 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.
The two vessels will stay linked together for around 12 days before separating and uniting again at a later date, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme.
For more: Chinese pull off space docking | The Australian
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