[CMSE News] The research, manufacturing and construction relating to the space rendezvous & docking task under the China Manned Space Engineering Project have been fully launched while various tasks of developing and manufacturing Tiangong-1 spacecraft and its various systems are proceeding smoothly.

Since 2007, various tasks relating to rendezvous & docking have proceeded into a phase of engineering module development. This year, the emphases are to complete the development, manufacturing and testing of engineering module of spacecraft, manned spaceship, LongMarch 2F Launch Vehicle and application payloads, complete various trans-system large-scale tests, carry out the development and manufacturing of spaceflight products, and fully start the development, manufacturing, renovation and improvement of ground equipment.

Tiangong-1 spacecraft weighs about 8.5 tons, and it will be mainly used as the target of rendezvous & docking, so as to complete space rendezvous & docking tests, provide supports for astronauts’ work and living during their short-term stay on the orbit while guaranteeing the safety of astronauts, carry out space applications, space-related medical tests, space-related scientific experiments and technical tests related to the space station preliminarily establish a space test platform, which can be manned for a short term and be orbiting independently and reliably when being unmanned, so as to accumulate experiences needed for the construction of a space station. Till now, the development and manufacturing of the engineering module of Tiangong I spacecraft have been basically completed and the subsequent development is being boosted as planned. If all things go smoothly, it will be expected that a space rendezvous & docking test will be carried out in 2011.