China set to launch bigger space programme
CHINA: China will deploy bigger spacecraft for longer missions
following the success of its Shenzhou 9 voyage, allowing it to build a
manned space station and potentially put a man on the moon, experts
said.
The 13-day voyage of Shenzhou-9, which returned to Earth on Friday,
was China's longest-ever space mission and included the nation's first
woman astronaut among its three crew members.
In another first for China's 20-year space programme, which has cost
more than $6 billion, the crew also achieved the country's first-ever
manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a high-speed and
high-risk manoeuvre.
In the next mission that will occur at the end of this year or in
2013, Shenzhou-10's astronauts will link up with Tiangong 1 in a similar
flight, said Morris Jones, an Australian space expert focusing on
China's programme.
AFP |