Danish expert, media hail Chinese space docking

The launch of Shenzhou-8 and the successful docking with Tiangong-1 in outer space represented a milestone in both Chinese and international space programs, Danish space scientist and media said Thursday. Michael Linden-Voernle, an astrophysicist at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen, said new possibilities have opened for both Chinese and international space programs with high expectations. "The recent launch of the Tiangong-1 module and now the successful docking with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft is a very important step - a milestone for the Chinese space program in order to realize the goal of having a permanent presence in space. That means a large space station so this is really an important step, a major milestone," Linden-Voernle told Xinhua in an interview here on Thursday. Besides, a number of Danish news media reported the event, hailing it as a "historic and successful docking." The influential daily Politiken placed a two-minute's video for the successful coupling on its website and showed scenes from the Shenzhou-8 docking with Tiangong-1 together with a short commentary. "Tonight two Chinese spacecraft made the historic and successful docking above the atmosphere for the first time ever. China had been the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to master the technique of docking in space. China has laid the foundation for its dominance in space," Politiken said. Jyllands-Posten, one of the bestselling newspapers in Denmark, carried a report with a brief description of China's first space docking under the headline "China closer to its own space station." "As the third country in the world, China has docked two spacecraft together perfectly in space," said Jyllands-Posten. China's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 and its space lab module Tiangong-1 rendezvoused early Thursday, successfully completing the country's first-ever space docking.