Space Docking Is In China’s Plans For New Space Module

China has definite plans to launch a space module next year and carry out the nation’s first space docking in 2011 as a step towards the country’s goal of building a space station, state media said Sunday.

The , or “Heavenly Palace-1” is scheduled for launch in late 2010 and will dock with a Shenzhou-8 spacecraft early the following year, the Xinhua news agency said, citing officials with China’s space program. The module is designed to provide a safe, working environment for Chinese astronauts wherein they can reside and conduct zero gravity scientific research. Space program officials have previously stated China is expected to place in orbit several modules such as Tiangong and link them up to form a semi-permanent space platform. Not clear at the time of this writing is if the Tiangong-1 would eventually serve as China’s first manned space station, or whether it would be a base to test docking and space station technology. The planned 2011 docking would be remotely carried out by scientists on the ground and would not involve astronauts, the report said.

The announcement of the Tiangong mission came as China’s first lunar probe, the Chang’e-1, impacted the moon’s surface Sunday afternoon after a nearly 16 month mission photographing and mapping the lunar surface, Xinhua said in a separate report. This year, China’s space program will focus on building several prototypes of the Tiangong, while upgrades to the carrier rocket that will launch the module into space would also be carried out, Xinhua said. Following the Shenzhou-8 flight, China also hopes to begin the mass production of Shenzhou spacecraft which will be used to transport astronauts to the space station, it said.