China spacecraft set to return to Earth today

CHINA: The Chinese spacecraft with three astronauts aboard is scheduled to return to Earth today after a nearly two-week mission that included the country's first manual docking in orbit, state media said.

The Shenzhou-9 is expected to return to Earth around 10:00 am (0200 GMT) today, the state Xinhua news agency said yesterday, quoting an unnamed space programme official.

China launched the spacecraft carrying three crew, including the country's first female astronaut, from the remote Gobi desert in the nation's northwest on June 16.

The Shenzhou-9 manually linked with the Tiangong-1 space module in orbit on Sunday, the key goal of the mission and a milestone in an ambitious programme to build a space station by the end of the decade.

China's rulers sees the space programme as a symbol of the country's rising global stature, growing technical expertise and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.AFP