Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program, speaks during a press conference about the first docking of China's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 and its space lab module Tiangong-1, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 3, 2011. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)
BEIJING -- China will complete the second step of its three-phase development strategy for its manned space program by establishing its own space lab around 2016, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said Thursday.
Spokeswoman Wu Ping made the remarks at a press conference here after the country's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 and the space lab module Tiangong-1 successfully docked with each other at 1:36 a.m. Thursday.
Through more than 10 years of efforts, China has made breakthroughs in key technologies and formed a set of design, production and experiment systems for the spacecraft's space docking, Wu said.
