[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18481806

China's Shenzhou-9 capsule, with its crew of three, has docked with the Tiangong-1 space lab.

The coupling of the vehicles occurred at 14:07 Beijing time (06:07 GMT; 07:07 BST).

The latest Shenzhou mission was launched on Saturday, taking the nation's first female astronaut into orbit.

After Saturday's lift-off from the Jiuquan spaceport, Shenzhou-9 worked through a series of engine burns to take it higher and closer to the orbiting space lab.

Monday's docking was an automated procedure; computers - not the crew - were in charge of events.

A suite of radar, laser and optical sensors aligned Shenzhou with Tiangong. The capsule's thrusters then drove it into the space lab's docking ring.

The union happened at an altitude of about 340km (210 miles). Ms Liu operated a handheld video camera to record the moment of docking.

It is understood that only two members of the crew will enter the lab at any one time. The third individual will stay in the Shenzhou craft in case of emergency.

So far, so good .....