Watch Video: Unmanned Spacecraft Shenzhou 8 Launched Successfully by China

SHANGHAI, China – China launched an unmanned spacecraft "Shenzhou 8" for the country's first space docking. The launch marked the start of another key mission for the country’s ambitions to build a permanent space station by the around 2020.

Shenzhou 8 Launched Successfully by China

The "Shenzhou 8" set off aboard a Long March CZ-2F rocket from the remote Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert, Gansu Province in northwest China at 05:58, Tuesday (21:58 GMT Monday). Shenzhou-8 will attempt to make contact and dock with the Tiangong-1 lab, launched in September.

In 2003 China became the third nation to launch an astronaut into space, after Russia and the United States.