...mid-June to carry out the country's first manned space docking mission. "The Shenzhou-9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program. Manned docking with the space lab module is part of an ambitious project to start building a 60-ton space station by about 2020. “This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history," the scientist said.

China launched the Tiangong-1 lab module in September last year and followed up with the country’s first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November.

Successful launch for China's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8,
photo courtesy of China Daily.