Chinese astronauts successfully docked with a prototype space station, making China only the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to perform such a maneuver.

A Chinese spacecraft carrying three astronauts docked with an orbiting module Monday, another first for the country as it strives to match American and Russian exploits inspace.

The Shenzhou 9 capsule completed the maneuver with the Tiangong 1 module shortly after 2 p.m. (0600 GMT), 343 kilometers (213 miles) above Earth. The docking was shown live on national television.

Astronauts will live and work in the module for several days as part of preparations for manning a permanentspacestation. The crew includes 33-year-old Liu Yang, an air force pilot andChina'sfirst femalespacetraveler.

The docking was a first for Chinese manned spaceflight. In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 successfully docked twice with Tiangong 1 by remote control.

Monday's docking also was completed by remote control from a ground base inChina. A manual docking, to be carried out by one of the crew members, is scheduled for later in the mission.

Liu is joined by mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, and crew mate Liu Wang, 43. About three hours after the docking the three were shown on live television entering the Tiangong 1, grabbing handles as they floated along in their blue spacesuits.

They will spend at least 10 days inspaceonChina'sfourth manned mission, which was launched Saturday from the Jiuquan center on the edge of the Gobi desert in northernChina.

Chinais hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintainedspacestations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.

Another manned mission to the module is planned later this year. Possible future missions could include sending a man to the moon.

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Could China's Shenzhou 9 success usher in a new space race?