China Fulfils Space Docking Mission as Shenzhou-8 Returns

Independent, economical and reliable program

China started its space project from scratch in the 1950s when the country was still mired in poverty. Without any foreign experience to borrow, China had to develop space technologies independently.

"The theory of space docking is not hard to understand, but realization of the procedures is extremely complex," Zhou said.

"All the technologies and products on space docking were developed independently by ourselves," he said. "Nothing was bought from others."

Zhou said China has built up its own industrial, technical and innovative systems in the field of aerospace through independent development and innovation.

Compared with space dockings of the United States and Russia, the cost-effective Chinese way features multiple docking with the same target orbiter Tiangong-1, which is scheduled to link to Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 respectively.

"China's manned space program is economical," Zhou said.

Following the principle of "get more done on less money," China has spent about 35 billion yuan (US$5.4 billion) on its manned space program since 1992, China Manned Space Engineering Office data showed.

In contrast, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has an annual budget of US$17 to US$18 billion.

"China's expenditure on manned space program over the past two decades is no more than one year's expenses of the United States," Zhou said.

"We prioritize reliability and safety while maintaining fast development, though we have also been set back by failures," he said.

China has maintained a 94.4 percent success rate for its 130 launches, above the global average of 93.7 percent. All six of the astronauts China has sent into space since 2003 have returned to earth safely.

Zhou, however, noted that China's aerospace technologies still lag behind the United States and Russia though tremendous progress has been achieved.

The world's mainstream rockets have the thrust capacity of 20 tonnes, which China hardly possesses, Zhou said.

To prepare for the building of China's own space station, China is developing a new generation of carrier rockets featuring larger thrust, said Jing Muchun, chief engineer for the carrier rocket system of the manned space program.