[cymnPrayerm]

Global Times | 2012-6-18 2:10:02 | By Xuyang Jingjing



The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will automatically dock at Tiangong-1 Monday allowing its crew of
three astronauts - including Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space - to stay inside the
space lab module.

The manned spacecraft was launched Saturday evening and will complete its fifth and final orbit
change around 5 am today. It will dock by remote control at around 11 am BJT and part
with Tiangong-1 six days later to prepare for its first manual docking.

The 13-day mission has made headlines in both domestic and overseas media, which have
highlighted Liu as China's first female astronaut in space and the mission's importance to China's
space program.

If successful, China will become the third country behind the US and Russia to complete space
docking. CNN called it a "historic moment," opining that there are great hopes for the development
of China's aerospace industry.

China is well on its way to realizing its three-stage space program, which eventually aims to build
an independent space station around 2020 when the current International Space Station (ISS) is
set to retire.