Manned mission to test docking of spacecraft

BEIJING - China plans to send three astronauts into space sometime between June and August this year to further test technology to be used in rendezvous and docking missions, a spokesman for China's manned space program said on Friday.

The three astronauts, whose sexes were not specified, will board the spacecraft Shenzhou IX to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1, an orbiting space lab, the spokesman said.

The mission will differ chiefly in one way from the automatic dockings that occurred between the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou XIII and Tiangong-1 in November. This time, astronauts will attempt a manual docking.