China confident in functioning of space lab module Tiangong-1

An official from China's manned space program said Friday they were confident that space lab module Tiangong-1 would function until the end of its design life of two years. Tiangong-1 remains in orbit after its involvement in the country's first-ever space docking mission with another unmanned spacecraft this month. "Monitoring data show that all the systems of Tiangong-1 are in perfect condition, so we are quite confident that it will work till next year and the end of its design life," said Wang Zhaoyao, deputy director of China's manned space program office, at a press conference on the docking mission of Tiangong-1 and unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8.p Tiangong-1, which blasted off into space on Sept. 29, will remain in orbit to await docking attempts by both Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 in 2012. At least one of the two space vessels will take astronauts.