The six astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are about to get some new orbital neighbors. Three Chinese astronauts are due to blast off early Tuesday aboard a Chinese Long March rocket.

They wont be coming aboard the international outpost, a $100 billion complex that files about 250 miles above Earth, however. China is not a member of the 15-nation partnership.

Instead, Nie Haishengm, commander of the Shenzhou-10 mission, and his two rookie crewmates will head to a Chinese-owned module called Tiangong-1, which is serving as testbed for a future operational station.

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The Chinese astronauts or taikonauts are due to spend 15 days in orbit, primarily to practice rendezvous and docking techniques, test technologies needed for long-term human habitation in space and conduct science experiments, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's human space program said through a translator at a webcast press conference on Monday.

The mission will be the countrys fifth with people aboard. Another three-member crew visited the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 module last June. The prototype station, whose name means Heavenly Palace, has been orbiting since September 2011.

The capsule is expected to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1 twice, once manually and once automated. The technology is needed to prepare for on-orbit construction of Chinas follow-on station.

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Up to now, we have only conducted three automated rendezvous and dockings and one piloted rendezvous and docking. We need more flight tests for verification, Wu Ping told reporters.

Tiangong-1 was designed to last for two years and part of the upcoming mission will be to check its condition for a possible extension, Gregory Kulacki, China program manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Discovery News.

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China Ready for Launch to Prototype Space Station