A spokesman from China's space agency, China Manned Space Engineering, announced June 3 that China will soon launch the three-person Shenzhou 10 spaceship to rendezvous and dock with the nation's Tiangong 1 space module, which is already in orbit.

The 8.5-ton Tiangong 1, or Heavenly Palace 1, has been orbiting Earth since September 2011 and was used in China's first piloted rendezvous-and-docking venture — the three-person Shenzhou 9 space trek — in June 2012.