Chinese orbital docking starts long march to space station US
commie hunt jumpstarted taikonaut takeoff China has successfully
launched an unmanned capsule into orbit and is beginning to
maneuver it into place for the nation’s first orbital docking.
State media reports that a Shenzhou-8 capsule successfully
blasted off from China’s launch platform in the Gobi desert atop
an upgraded Long March-2F rocket, watched by Chinese vice
premier Zhang Dejiang. It was successfully inserted into its
planned orbit, and ground control is now beginning to shift it
into position to dock with the Tiangong-1 – "Heavenly Palace-1"
– module that has been in orbit since September. If all goes to
plan, the capsule will perform China’s first space docking in
two days’ time, 343km above the planet’s surface. After a number
of practice docking maneuvers, the capsule will then return to
earth for examination and testing. Successful docking will be
crucial if China is to reach its goal of putting a space station
into orbit by 2020. Und