China astronauts dock space lab Forty-eight hours after lift off from the Gobi desert, three Chinese astronauts have successfully docked the Tiangong-1 space lab. Chinese media reports that it is the latest step towards the development of the country's own space station. The astronauts plan on spending two weeks in the lab making it China's longest manned space mission. The docking was fully automated, though manually docking tests will be carried out during their stay. The mission is the latest show of China's ambitions to breach the final frontier, space. Though they have come a long way in recent years they still lag behind Russia and the US in the space race. They aim to send a man to the moon, but not before 2020. Wang Yaping, China's second woman in space, will present a lecture to Chinese schoolchildren from the station. More about: China, Space exploration, Space mission