Beijing (Reuters) – China will launch its next space mission manned sometime between June and August, and try to dock with an experimental module released last year, the News Agency state Xinhua reported on Friday.
Will be the fourth manned space mission of China since 2003, when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times, becoming the first man in the country in space.
For the next mission, three astronauts will try to attach with the module Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace), released on September 29 in the preparations for exploration of China for a space laboratory, said Xinhua.
China because it has carried out a successful test of coupling between an unmanned spacecraft and Tiangong 1.
“The new space docking mission is (…)” “another chance for China to test docking technology”, said Xinhua, quoting an unidentified spokesman of the manned space program of China.
“Three members of the crew (…)” “shall enter into the vehicle of Tiangong 1 for live and work there, conducting scientific experiments in space,” he added, without giving more details.
China aspires to have a complete space station by 2020.
, However, is still far from reaching the established space superpowers: United States and Russia.
Russia, United States and other countries operate jointly the international space station, which China does not belong.
But United States not going to try a new rocket to carry people into space until 2017, and Russia said that manned missions are no longer a priority.
China also plans a unmanned journey to the Moon and a lunar vehicle deployment. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the Moon by 2020.
