China to launch manned space mission this summer

China's next manned space mission will be launched between June and August, state media reported yesterday.

It will carry three astronauts to an experimental space module as part of an ambitious plan to build a space station.

The Shenzhou 10 and its crew will be launched from a site in the Gobi desert and then link up with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, Xinhua said.

Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with the module for the first time last June.

Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two vessels are an important hurdle in efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long periods.

China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia. The Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station.

But this summer's mission will be the latest show of China's growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back US manned launches.

It will be China's fifth manned space mission since 2003, when Major General Yang Liwei became the country's first person in orbit.

An unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover are also planned. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the moon after 2020.