Shenzhou 8 Approaches Tiangong-1 for Docking

Shenzhou 8 spacecraft is ready to dock with Tiangong-1 space lab module after five fly-by's after its launch in early Tuesday morning, the command and control center said Wednesday.

The unmanned spacecraft, controlled and guided by the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, arrived, at 5:05 PM, at somewhere in space 52 km down behind the target modular orbiter, preparing for China's first space docking mission on a low earth orbit.

Shenzhou 8 was successfully sent into the designated orbit after the blast-off at 5:58 a.m. on Tuesday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's northwestern desert area, carried by an upgraded Long March-2F rocket.