Chinese Astronauts suceed in manual docking with spacelab

                           

Three Chinese astronauts including a women , on the countries 5th and longest manned space mission on Sunday succeeded in manually docking their spacecraft with the orbiting experimental spacelab. The spacecraft 'Shenzhou 10' successfully completed a manual docking procedure with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space module. Earlier the spacecraft that was launched on June 11 was manually separated from the tiangong 1 module. Chinese astronauts are currently under training to master both automatic and manual docking technology which is part of efforts to build a China's 1st space station by 2020. The spacecraft is piloted by Nie Haisheng and assisted by Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping, the lone female astronaut . According to their mission schedule the astronauts will enter the space module again and carry out scientific experiments. The shenzhou 10 is China's 5th manned spacecraft. Its current flight is China's 1st application oriented space flight since it began in 1992. China is only the 3rd country after US and Russia to acquire the technology and skill necessary for space rendezvous and docking procedures, as well as manpower and material for an orbiting module via different docking methods