Space station

Tuesday's mission will be followed by launches of spaceships Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 in 2012, which are expected to dock with Tiangong-1. "At least one mission of the two will be manned," Wu said.

The crew members have already been selected for the possible space docking mission in 2012 and are being trained for manual docking skills, she said.

The space docking tests and experiments will provide crucial experience of China's construction of a permanent manned space station around 2020 when Chinese astronauts will start more research projects in space.

The Chinese government approved and began carrying out its three-phase manned space program in January 1992, thanks to an economic boom that has continued since the end of the 1970s.

The country launched its first manned spaceflight in 2003 with Yang Liwei aboard the Shenzhou-5 mission. In 2008, astronaut Zhai Zhigang performed China's first-ever space walk during the Shenzhou-7 mission.

The next step will be to assemble a 60-tonne space station around 2020 when the International Space Station is scheduled to be plunged into the ocean at the end of its life cycle.

"New knowledge obtained through space science research should be used for the common wealth of all human beings and should benefit the whole world," Zhou said.