geekosystem

The Chinese Space Agency has succeeded in a months-long plan to inhabit the country's first orbiting space station, Tiangong-1. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft launched this past weekend, carrying the first female Chinese astronaut -- or taikonaut, the craft docked with the waiting station. China is now the third country on Earth to have established a habitable orbiting outpost.

Back in October, China took its space operations to new heights by placing the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit. Then, the Chinese space agency followed up that success by launching the unmanned Shenzhou-8 craft in November, which successfully docked with the Tiangong-1 station. Now, final preparations are underway for the country's first manned mission to its space station, and the crew roster may for the first time include some women.

In late September, China successfully placed Tiangong-1 space station into orbit, paving the way for future missions. The first of those missions began today with the launch of Shenzhou-8, an unmanned mission which will dock with the Tiangong station after two days of travel time. This will be the first docking maneuver for China, and if successful, will place it among only three countries that have carried out such a mission. While these accomplishments are modest compared to Russia and the United States -- which began long term space habitation and docking activities in the 1960s -- it is a major step for China. Moreover, it demonstrates to the world that China is taking its space program seriously, and could be something of an embarassment for the U.S. which currently has no domestic manned spaceflight capability. Should Shenzhou-8 perform as expected, the next step will be for manned missions to the station. We'll have to wait until 2012 to see how those go.

Last week, China successfully placed the Tiangong-1 spacelab into orbit, giving the country its first foothold in space. The name of the module, launched aboard a Long March 2 rocket, translates roughly to "heavenly palace." Expected to last around two years, the module will function as a testbed for automated docking procedures and will eventually support up to three astronauts for short stays onboard. The entire Tiangong program has the potential to leap the Chinese space program forward by decades. It should be noted that although U.S. and Russian space agencies mastered docking about 40 years and have both operated space stations since the 1970s, China plans to accomplish all of these tasks within the lifespan of Tiangong-1. The first unmanned mission, Shenzhou 8, is expected later this year. Two manned missions, Shenzhou 9 and 10, will follow in 2012.