China's first space laboratory module Tiangong-1 linked up with the Shenzhou -9 spacecraft on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images

BEIJING: China moved a step closer to achieving its goal of building a space station after it manually docked a spacecraft and an orbiting module for the first time.

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft carrying three crew, including the nation's first female astronaut, linked up with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A remote-controlled, automated docking took place last week and the spacecraft was disconnected yesterday to repeat the manoeuvre manually, an event broadcast live on national television.

China is seeking to expand its space program and has goals of putting a person on the moon by 2020 as well as operating a permanent manned space station. The astronauts lived and worked in Tiangong-1 after last week's docking and returned to the lab module after the latest manoeuvre to conduct further experiments and studies, Xinhua said.

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The docking was ''a complete success'', said Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program. The breakthrough in the docking technology ''lays a solid foundation for construction of the space station'', she said.

China has an investment budget of 19 billion yuan ($3 billion) for the country's space-rendezvous and docking missions, Wu said. That includes the Shenzhou-9 project and the planned Shenzhou-10 manned mission next year as well as previous missions conducted by the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, she said.

Shenzhou-9 was launched on June 16, while Tiangong-1 was put into orbit last year. The astronauts will stay in the module for another three to four days before manoeuvering it to separate from the spacecraft and return to Earth.

China sent its first man into space and conducted its first spacewalk decades later than the United States and Russia. The US ended its 30-year space-shuttle program last year and now has no manned spaceflight capability.

Bloomberg

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Chinese edge closer to space dreams