On Saturday at 12:37 hours (MET) China successfully launched its
space shuttle "Shenzhou 9". Three astronauts, among them for the
first time a woman, will manually dock with the space module
"Heavenly Palace-1". This maneuver is scheduled for Monday and
represents another step towards China's ambition to establish a
permanent space station.
"I am grateful to the motherland and the people. I feel honored
to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of Chinese
females," the female astronaut Liu Yang commented before the
mission began according to the state news agency Xinhua.
ScienceGuide interviewed Yang Hong, the chief designer of
the "Heavenly Palace"."My ultimate dream is to let manned space
flight benefit all humanity. Not just our Chinese people, but all
citizens in the world. I think that flying to Mars is just one
step. In fact, we should think much beyond that," he said.