BEIJING - China has planned about 19 billion yuan ($3 billion) in budget for the country's space rendezvous and docking missions, a spokeswoman of China's manned space program said Sunday.

Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program, told a press conference that the budget will cover the ongoing Shenzhou IX?spacecraft manned space docking mission, the previous missions conducted by Shenzhou VII, Shenzhou?VIII?spaceships, as well as the mission to be carried out by the Shenzhou X spaceship next year.

Since starting the manned space missions in 1992, Wu said, the country has spent another 20 billion yuan in investment in manned space missions carried out by Shenzhou VI and previous spaceships.

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