1st Piece of Chinese Station Assembled for 2011 Launch

摘要

China says it has completed assembling the first module for its space station, and the country's space agency hopes to launch it next year.rnThe unmanned Tiangong-1 module, weighing almost 8,500 kilograms, will lift off on a Chinese Long March 2F carrier rocket sometime in the first half of 2011, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Aug. 17. An unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou 8 vehicle, is expected to launch later and rendezvous with the module in the first demonstration of the Chinese space station's docking capability.