China is set to launch three astronauts into space at 5:38 p.m. on Tuesday as part of the nation's growing orbital prowess, Xinhuanet.com reported.
The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft will carry two male astronauts, Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, and one female, Wang Yaping. Wang will be the second female in China's manned space mission.
Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program, gave a televised briefing Monday confirming the reports. She said Tiangong-1, China's orbiting space lab module is ready for docking tests.
Wu said the craft will travel for 15 days and will undergo two docking tests with Tiangong-1, one automatic and one manual. While on board the space lab, the astronauts will give a lecture to students back on Earth about the weightless condition.
"The launch ground and all control systems are ready," Wu said. "Astronauts are in good and stable condition."
She included the Long March 2F carrier rocket had been upgraded with better food for astronauts and improved waste management systems.
The mission aims to further progress China's goal in building a space station as well as working to prolong their astronauts' stay in space.
Reuters reported Monday that China remains far behind the pace set by space superpowers Russia and the United States, but the Chinese program is growing. This manned launch will be the nation's fifth since 2003.
China will not likely land a man on the moon before 2020, but scientists say the nation is planning an unmanned trip to the moon to deploy a rover. There's not a timetable for that mission as of yet, but given the U.S.'s success with Mars rovers Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity, China's moon rover could launch soon.
According to SpaceNews.com, NASA is trying to shift funds to give its own commercial program $525 million, the max allowed by Congress, this year. NASA is reportedly asking commercial companies to fly astronauts, cargo and experiments to and from their space station by 2017.
SpaceX is reportedly the furthest along in meeting that deadline and said they would be ready to launch their own astronauts into space, but not to the space station, by 2015.
