China said it successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft on Tuesday, taking its next step towards the goal of building its first space station by 2020.
The
Shenzhou VIII blasted off from the Gobi desert in China's northwest, the state
Xinhua news agency said, separating from its carrier rocket, a modified Long
March-2F, about 200 kilometres above the earth. 
A
soldier stands guard in front of an upgraded Long March 2F rocket carrying the
Shenzhou-8 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China's Gansu
province (CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO)
It is due to join with the Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace", possibly within days, in what would be the country's first space docking with a module that is already orbiting the earth.
The experimental docking is part of China's preparation for building its first space station by 2020, where astronauts can live for several months, as they do on NASA's International Space Station or the former Russian Mir.
If it is a success, China will launch another two space craft next year to conduct more docking experiments.
At least one will be manned, and two female astronauts are among those being trained for the mission, according to Xinhua. If they are chosen, they will be the first women China has sent into space.
China began its manned spaceflight programme in 1990 after buying Russian technology and in 2003 became the third country to send humans into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
China sees its ambitious space programme as a symbol of its burgeoning global stature.
- AFP/wk
