BEIJING (AP) ? China says two unmanned spacecraft have docked successfully in space for a second time.
State-run Xinhua News Agency says China’s Shenzhou 8 craft re-docked with the orbiting Tiangong 1 module on Monday evening.
It says about half an hour earlier, Shenzhou 8 had successfully disengaged from Tiangong 1 after a 12-day flight together.
The space docking is the latest step in what will be a decadelong effort by China to place a manned permanent space station in orbit.
Tiangong 1 is one of the country’s planned space lab modules. China plans to establish the space lab around 2016 and a manned space station that will be smaller than the International Space Station around 2020.
