Chinese spacecraft successfully completes manual docking

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft yesterday ( June 24) successfully linked with the Tiangong-1 module. The Chinese hope to build a space station by 2020. The first female astronaut was part of this mission.

Chinese mission control announced:“The first manual docking has been completed normally,” A joystick type device was used to dock the space ship. The alignment was actually said to be better than the automatic docking that happened last time.

The manual docking was one of the main tasks of the mission. The space mission is seen by China as a symbol of the country's growing global stature and technological expertise. For much more see this article.