China will launch its Shenzhou 10 spacecraftnext year on a manned mission to further improve its space docking technology achieved by the Shenzhou 9 mission earlier this year, an official said Saturday.
"Shenzhou 10 will carry three astronauts, possibly including a female astronaut," Yang Liwei, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, was quoted by the Shanghai-based Labor Daily as saying Sunday.
"The selection of astronauts has not yet been completed. We are certain to choose astronauts for Shenzhou 10 from among those who have experience," Yang said at an exhibition of China's manned space program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University over the weekend.
Shenzhou 10 will aim to consolidateand optimizethe difficult techniques used for automaticand manualdocking of a space capsulewith the Tiangong 1 space lab.
After the Shenzhou 10 mission, a second modulefor the Tiangong space station will be sent into orbit. China is expected to have completed the construction of its space station by 2020.
Apart from helping consolidate the docking technology, the new spacecraft will lay the groundworkfor future construction of the country's space station.
The astronauts' workflow, mission schedule, work procedure and science experiments will also be intensely studied during the upcoming Shenzhou missions.
"Technological bottlenecks are waiting to be conqueredincluding life support systems, how to accommodate humans living and working in the space station for a long period and how to offer support to the astronaut's physical and psychological conditioning," he said.
The former astronaut said China's space program is focusing on technological breakthroughs that still need tweakingand polishing.
英语快讯：“神舟十号”飞船将于明年搭载三位航天员飞向太空。“神舟十号”飞船将于明年搭载三位航天员飞向太空。和“神九”一样，仍将有三名航天员上天执行任务，或仍将有女性航天员参与。目前“神十”航天员的人选尚未确定，但可以肯定的是，太空任务的执行仍以老一批航天员为主。按照中国航天“三步走”战略，2020年左右，我国就将建成自己的太空家园——空间站。
（责任编辑:admin）
