China completes first space docking - Xinhua
10:28 03/11/2011 MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - Two Chinese space freighters performed the country's first space docking early on Thursday in a step towards China’s plans to establish a permanent manned space station, Xinhua reported.
Launched on Tuesday, the unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou-8, docked with space lab module Tiangong-1 at 02:36 GMT.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is currently in France at the G-20 summit, congratulated the specialists who contributed to the mission’s success.
"Breakthroughs in and acquisition of space docking technologies are vital to the three-phase development strategy of our manned space program," Xinhua quoted Hu as saying.
The mission puts China alongside Russia and the United States, which have had the capability of docking spacecraft for decades.
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