China will launch its Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with three astronauts aboard on June 16 to carry out the country's first manned space docking mission, a source close to Mission Control said on Tuesday.
The manned spacecraft will blast off from the Jiuquan launch center in northwest China. The crew will include China’s first female astronaut.
"The Shenzhou-9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module," Xinhua said on Saturday quoting Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program.
Manned docking with the space lab module is part of an ambitious project to start building a 60-ton space station by about 2020.
“This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history," the scientist said.
China launched the Tiangong-1 lab module in September last year and followed up with the country’s first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November.
