In China it was late afternoon when the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft took off using a modified Long March 2F carrier rocket, the most powerful rocket built by the Chinese. On board there are three astronauts whose mission is to test manual docking to the Tiangong 1 module, which was put into orbit in September 2011.

The commander of the mission, Jing Haipeng, 46 years old, is on his second space mission after flying in the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft in 2008. Liu Wang, 43 years old, and Liu Yang, 33 years old, are making their debut. Yang Liu is the first Chinese woman to fly in space and has the rank of major in the Chinese air force, which increases the importance of this mission for Chinese propaganda.

In November 2011, the automatic docking of spacecraft Shenzhou 8 to the Tiangong 1 module was a significant step forward for the Chinese space program. That mission in fact demonstrated that the technologies needed to enable the proper docking between two objects flying in space were working.

The success of the spacecraft Shenzhou 9 mission would be a further step forward because it would demonstrates the Chinese astronauts’ skills to perform a manual docking to the Tiangogn 1 module. China’s goal is to build its own space station by 2020 so both the technological tools and the astronauts have to be ready.

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The Tiangogn 1 module was put into orbit only to carry out various docking experiments and some scientific experiments. It’s expected that two of the astronauts will live for a week in the module to test its life support systems and perform some experiments while the third one remains in the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft ready for any emergency. The mission should last a total of about 20 days.

If this mission is be successful, in the coming years the various modules that will compose the Chinese space station will be transported and assembled in space. The result will be slightly smaller than the old Skylab, about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station.

China is serious about its space program. Of course, it’s well behind the U.S.A. and USSR / Russia but it’s quickly catching up. If the Chinese will be able to follow their schedule, in the next decade they’ll be among the leaders in the field of spaceflight.