China on Saturday fired its longest and heaviest rocket, successfully sending its first woman astronaut along with two male colleagues into space to conduct the maiden manned docking of its space lab being built to rival Russia's Mir International Space Station.
A Chinese unmanned spacecraft headed off to space on Tuesday for the country's first docking mission, paving the way for the establishment of China's first space station by 2020 to rival Mir, the space lab being operated by Russian and American astronauts.
Three Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the country's new space station after their spaceship successfully docked with it, just over seven hours after the launch from the Gobi Desert, in a major milestone for the Communist giant's space exploration plans and its bid to become a leading space power.
China is all set to send on Thursday the first three crew members to its under-construction space station which is expected to be Beijing's eye in the sky and will rival the ageing International Space Station (ISS).
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances