China sends unmanned craft into space

Dawn rocket launch from Gobi desert marks step forward in Chinese plans to master docking and set up space station
The Shenzhou 8 is launched at dawn from the north Gobi desert, entering orbit successfully Link to video: China launches unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft

A Chinese Long March rocket has blasted off, propelling an unmanned spacecraft into orbit in the next step towards the country's ambitious plans for a manned space station.

The Shenzhou 8 was launched at dawn from the north Gobi desert, entering orbit successfully, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It should dock with the Tiangong 1 module within two days, more than 200 miles above Earth.

"Mastering the technology of rendezvous and docking will lay a firm foundation for China to build a space station," Zhou Jianping, the chief designer of China's manned space engineering project, told Xinhua.

"Once we have mastered this technology, we will possess the basic technology and capacity to build a space station, and this will open up possibilities for even larger activities in space."

But he added: "Since we have never conducted a similar test before and the system is so complicated, we have many unknowns."

Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme, warned: "It is fairly difficult and risky to link up two vehicles travelling at high speeds in orbit, with a margin of error of no more than 20cm."

Dr Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) said the mission was arguably China's most important since its first manned space flight in 2003.

"This is a real breakthrough in technology," he said. "To dock a spacecraft will involve a wide-ranging number of capabilities that mark a really big leap – much more so than just taking a spacewalk." Kulacki is a senior analyst and China project manager at the UCS, which focuses on the security implications of the space programme.

"They are repeating things that the US and Soviet Union did 40 years ago. But it will give them the capability to complete their longstanding plans to have a Chinese-owned and occupied space station in lower Earth orbit by the beginning of the next decade."

Engineers want to be sure they can create and maintain the conditions – such as the right pressure and humidity – required for humans to live on a space station for long periods.

If they are successful, two more docking exercises will follow next year, with at least one of those craft carrying astronauts. The crew will probably include two female astronauts, who would be the first women to enter space for China, state media reported.

Zhou, the project designer, said the space station would weigh 60 tonnes, which is considerably less than the 400-tonne international space station, and the country was still developing a rocket capable of delivering the components needed.

While Chinese media praised the Shenzhou-8 launch, the popular state-run newspaper Global Times struck a relatively sombre note, warning that the space programme was not like "spending money to buy ice cream" – that is, that investment involved risks and did not always bring an immediate and obvious return.

But it added: "There is no other choice. As long as we are determined to rise in the world and pursue rejuvenation, we need to take risks. Otherwise, China will be a nation with prosperity but subordinated to top powers, and such prosperity depends on the attitudes of others."

Kulacki said China had developed its own programme because the US, and to a lesser extent Russia, had blocked it from participating in the International Space Station. It began laying its plans in the 1980s because of its concern about US investments in the Strategic Defence Initiative.

"They feared China would be left behind and would never be able to catch up ... It's more about the capability than anything specific they want to do with it," he said.

But he added that officials also hoped it would benefit China's domestic economy by raising scientific and technological standards and possibly by leading to breakthroughs such as new materials.

The Shenzhou-8 is carrying an experimental facility developed by German and Chinese scientists.

According to the German space agency DLR, plants, bacteria and human cancer cells will be exposed to zero gravity and space radiation for nearly three weeks as scientists seek to explore questions such as how gravity affects biological processes and how the immune system could be strengthened.

In one experiment, Chinese and German researchers are jointly studying a miniature ecosystem with algae and fish. They hope to develop a biological life-support system to produce oxygen and food and to treat water for longer space missions.

In another, scientists will investigate the crystallisation of medically relevant proteins in space. They are interested in the development of new substances to target the MRSA "superbug" and the parasites that cause malaria.

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