China, Germany to operate space experiments on Shenzhou-8

A spokeswoman for China's manned space program said here Monday that Chinese and German scientists will conduct 17 space experiments on life science on the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-8. "Chinese and German scientists will conduct 17 research programs aboard the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft," spokeswoman Wu Ping told a press briefing at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gobi desert. The unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft is scheduled to be launched at 5:58 a.m. Tuesday at the center and will dock with China's first space lab module, Tiangong-1, Wu said. "Among the research programs, 10 will be dominated by China and six by Germany, and the two sides will jointly carry out one program," Wu said. The cooperation agreement was inked between the China Manned Space Program office and the German Aerospace Center in May 2008, the spokeswoman said. "It is the first time for China's manned space program to carry out international cooperation in the field of space life science," Wu said. "The experiments are of great significance in promoting the study and development of microgravity science and space life science," she said.