Tiangong-1 space station module 211 miles above the planet on
November 3. "China is now equipped with the basic technology and
capacity required for the construction of a space station,"
chief designer Zhou Jianping was quoted as saying by the Xinhua
news agency."This will make it possible for China to carry out
space exploration on a larger scale," he added. The Chinese have
been conducting tests over a twelve day period since then with
the joint assembly. To make sure the docking collar works and
the previous docking wasn't a fluke they will separate the
remote controlled Shenzhou-8 from the module and attempt to dock
it with the Tiangong-1 module again before the Shenzhou-8 craft
is scheduled to return to Earth on November 17. The Tiangong-1
module was launched into orbit from their Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center back on September 29, and the Chinese plan to send
two more Shenzhou missions to dock with it next year. One of
those missions will be a manned one with taikonauts scheduled to
stay on board for