Launch of Shenzhou 8 on October 31, 2011, was successful. According to the orbit calculation, the Shenzhou 8 spaceship has entered its operating orbit with a perigee height of 200 km and apogee height of 329 km. The obliquity of the orbit is 42 degrees, and the orbiting cycle is 5379 seconds.
Chinese TV shows the Tiangong 1 module docking with the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft Nov. 2, 2011.
China's Shenzhou 8 rocket lifts off on October 31, 2011.
A view of China's Tiangong 1 space lab module taken by the approaching Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, just minutes before the two vessels docked in Earth orbit.
Chinese Mission Controllers watch as the Tiangong 1 spacecraft makes the country's first docking maneuver with Shenzhou 8.
Chang Wanquan, the chief commander of the China Manned Space Engineering Project, addressed Chinese mission control after the country's successful first space docking.
Video still showing China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong 1 lab module on Nov. 3, 2011.
China's unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launches on Oct. 31, 2011, on a mission to dock with the prototype space module Tiangong 1.
China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launched into Earth orbit on Oct. 31, 2011 atop a Long March 2F rocket. This close-up shot shows the rocket in action, shortly after liftoff.
The Chinese Long March 2F rocket due to carry the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to orbit in November 2011 rolls to the launch pad in Mongolia.
Photo of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft undergoing testing earlier in 2011.
German and Chinese researchers prepare biological samples for the SIMBOX research payload in a laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This artist's illustration from a China space agency video shows the Tiangong 1 space laboratory, a prototype module for the country's planned space station.
The SIMBOX experiment hardware, consisting of a heated chamber and centrifuge, will carry biological samples in 40 compartments.
China's Long March 2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, rolls to the launch pad in preparation for its November 2011 launch.
A Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft closes in on the country's Tiangong 1 space lab in this still from a mission profile video.
Workers prepare the Chinese Long March 2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, for its November 2011 launch.
Display model of Tiangong I module at an exhibition hall at the China Academy of Space Technology, complete with access door for public viewing. A Long March 2F carrier rocket for Tiangong I arrived at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on July 23. Personnel and facilities from all subsystems and payloads are gathering at the launch center for the mission of the space laboratory, which are reportedly going well.
This still from a China space agency video shows a cutaway of a Shenzhou spacecraft docked at the country's Tiangong 1 space lab, showing how astronauts will move between the two Chinese spacecraft.
This still from a China space agency video shows the country's Tiangong 1 space lab module under construction for its planned 2011 launch.
China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launched into Earth orbit on Oct. 31, 2011 atop a Long March 2F rocket. This close-up shot shows the rocket in action, shortly after liftoff.
China manned space program spokeswoman Wu Ping speaks with reporters just before the launch of China's unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft at 5:58:07 a.m. on November 1 Local Time (about 6 p.m. EDT) on the country's first docking test flight to the Tiangong 1 space lab.
A graphic of Shenzhou 8's approach to the Tiangong 1 module on Nov. 2, 2011, Beijing time, to mark China's first space docking.
A view from onboard cameras aboard Chinese spacecraft during the docking of Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 to form China's first mini-space station in orbit.
A view from onboard cameras aboard Chinese spacecraft during the docking of Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 to form China's first mini-space station in orbit.
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A graphic of Shenzhou 8's approach to the Tiangong 1 module on Nov. 2, 2011, Beijing time, to mark China's first space docking.
This screenshot of a CNTV Chinese news broadcast shows an infrared view of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft as it descends to Earth under its parachute on Nov. 17, 2011. The spacecraft landed in inner Mongolia to end China's first space docking mission.
A CNTV reporter stands next to China's Shenzhou 8 space capsule on Nov. 17, 2011 after the unmanned spacecraft landed in inner Mongolia after a nearly two-week mission that successfully performed China's first space dockings in orbit.
