China launches the fifth manned space rocket paving the way to a permanent base in orbit

The Chinese spacecraft launched from the top-secret base in the Gobi desert today on Tuesday with a crew of three, including china’s second female astronaut, destined to dock with their prototype space station

Commander Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and their femail collegue, Wang Yapin blasted off in the Long March-2F rocket, the Shenzhon 10, at 5:38 EDT from Jiuquan, western China in the arid planes of the Gobi desert.

President Xi Jinping, who personally attended the launch, said to the astronauts: “You are the pride of the Chinese people, and this mission is both glorious and sacred.”

During the 15-day mission the team is expected to dock with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1, and carry out test and experiments on the space module's systems.

“The functionality, performance, and coordination of all systems will be evaluated during this mission,” Wu Ping, a spokesperson for China's Manned Space Program, told a news conference on Monday ahead of the launch.

Wu Ping added that the main objective is to test the technology, which relates to the construction of a base that can secure China’s long-term presence in space.

Chinese media reported that it is the last mission nessasery to gain the experience to build a large space station, which expected to be fully operational by 2020, the same year that the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to retire and fall out of orbit.

So far America’s congress has stopped NASA from collaborating in anyway with the Chinese for fear of technology transfer and so China has not been a part of the ISS.

Gregory Kulacki, China program manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists said that he thinks this approach is “counter productive”.

“Banning contact between NASA and potential counterparts in China only gives greater authority to the more nationalistic elements within the Chinese space community, and it minimizes the voices of a very large internationalist constituency within the Chinese space community.”

“The ban really strengthens attitudes that are not conducive to better relations between the United States and China and it weakens the position of those who take a more positive attitude toward the United States,” Kulacki added.