China's new icebreaker is set to be launched in 2014 and will conduct scientific marine research tasks, Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
Following a successful launch on Tuesday morning, the unmanned Shenzhou VIII spacecraft was sent on its way to the country's first rendezvous and docking exercise to be held overnight,Wednesday to Thursday, space officials said.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, who supervised the Shenzhou-8 blastoff on site, said Tuesday morning the successful launch signals one key step closer to a victory of China's first space docking.
If all went as planned, China's unmanned Shenzhou VIII spacecraft is now on its way to a rendezvous with the Tiangong-1 space module circling hundreds of kilometers above the Earth's surface.
The spacecraft is heading to rendezvous with the Tiangong-1 for China's first space docking.
China Southern Airlines' Airbus A380 superjumbo was cleared for operation Monday after being grounded for two days due to a mechanical fault, China National Radio's website (CNR.com) reported.
The unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 is scheduled to be launched at 5:58 am Tuesday.
Aerospace officials are confident of a successful space rendezvous and docking between orbiters, despite the inherent challenges and risks, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said on Monday.
China plans to fulfill its first ever manual space docking by 2012, probably with women astronauts, a China manned space program spokeswoman said Monday.
A China manned space program spokesperson said Monday that Chinese and German scientists are going to operate 17 space experiments on life science on the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-8.
A stranded cargo ship in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province. The ship, loaded with 7,000 tons of sand, crashed into Jiaojiang Bridge at 10 am on Sunday.
A China manned space program spokesperson said Monday that China is going to conduct another manned space mission by 2012.