中国发射了一艘没有载人的飞船“神舟八号”，这是中国朝到2020年建立载人空间站迈出的最新一步。神舟八号本周晚些时候将在距离地球表面343公里高的太空与另一艘飞船交会对接，演练美国和俄罗斯在40多年前率先采用的这种关键技术。
中国载人航天工程办公室(CMSEO)表示，神舟八号是周二早晨6时由一枚长征运载火箭搭载升空的，按计划将与今年9月下旬发射的、将为空间站进行最重要筹备工作的“天宫一号”太空舱实施空间交会对接。
周二的发射是北京方面到2020年完成其首个永久空间站这一雄心勃勃计划的关键一步。届时，目前正在运行的国际空间站(ISS)按计划将要退役，使中国成为唯一在太空拥有此类永久空间站的国家。
神舟八号带有一个德国制造的生物培养装置，里面装有植物、细菌和人体细胞试验样品，用于在太空进行生物和医学试验。
尽管中国的航天计划与俄罗斯的同类计划关系密切，而且中国航天与欧洲同行进行过交流，但上述举措标志着北京方面首次在神舟飞船的使用层面与另一个国家开展合作。
美国是在航天领域处于领先地位的两个大国之一，但中国加强与美国交流的努力因为双方的戒心而受阻。由于牵涉到可能的军事用途，这两个国家在航天领域仍互不信任。
美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)和中国国家主席胡锦涛联合作出的扩大空间合作的承诺，迄今未能转化为切实进展。
中国官方的新华社形容空间探索方面的国际合作是“困难的”，并指出，尽管中国在酒泉卫星发射中心接待了美国国家航空航天局(NASA)和美国航天基金会(US Space Foundation)代表团，但北京方面请求参观美国肯尼迪航天中心(Kennedy Space Center)却遭到拒绝。
新华社称，神舟八号发射时，欧洲航天局和德国宇航中心的官员和专家在酒泉卫星发射中心进行了实地观摩。
这艘飞船将逐步靠拢在距离地面343公里高的近地轨道上绕地球飞行的天宫一号，并在升空后两天内与其交会对接。
美俄进行首次空间对接时，都是有宇航员在飞船上操纵的，但中国选择进行一次全自动化的对接操作，使用神舟和天宫飞行器上的激光和卫星系统并从地面进行遥控。
在神舟八号的返回舱11月中旬返回地面之前，将进行两次这样的对接。中国载人航天工程办公室表示，按计划，明年将与天宫一号进行更先进的交会对接演练，其中一次将是载人对接。
译者/和风
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001041497
China has launched an unmanned spaceship in the latest step towards creating its own manned space station by 2020. The Shenzhou VIII is scheduled to dock with another craft 343km above the earth’s surface later this week, as China practises a key technique first used by the US and Russia more than 40 years ago.
The Shenzhou VIII was launched on a Long March carrier rocket at 6am on Tuesday and is scheduled to link up with Tiangong I, the space module which was sent up in late September and which will conduct the most important work in preparation for the space station, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.
Tuesday’s launch is a crucial step in Beijing’s ambitious plan to complete its permanent space station by 2020, just as the International Space Station is scheduled to retire, and leave it as the only nation with such a permanent presence in space.
The spacecraft is carrying a German-built incubator loaded with plant, bacteria and human cell samples for biological and medical tests during the mission.
While China’s space programmes have close ties with those of Russia and the country has exchanges with European counterparts, this marks the first time Beijing has co-operated with another nation in the use of a Shenzhou spaceship.
Attempts to foster exchanges with the US, one of the two leading nations in space flight, have been hampered by caution as relations between the two nations still suffer from distrust over possible military implications.
A joint pledge by Barack Obama, US president, and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to expand space co-operation has yet to be translated into solid progress.
Xinhua, the official news agency, called international co-operation in space exploration “difficult”, and pointed out that while China had received delegations from Nasa and the US Space Foundation at its satellite launch centre in Jiuquan in western China, a Beijing request to visit the Kennedy Space Center had been denied.
Xinhua said German and other European officials and scientists had witnessed the Shenzhou VIII launch at the Jiuquan centre.
The spaceship is scheduled to approach Tiangong I gradually, which is circling 343km above earth, and then dock with it within two days of its launch.
The first such attempts by the US and Russia were steered by astronauts on board, but China is going for a fully automated exercise using the on-board laser and satellite systems of the Shenzhou and Tiangong craft to navigate from ground control.
Two such dockings will be conducted before the Shenzhou VIII capsule returns to earth in mid-November. More advanced docking exercises with the Tiangong I are planned next year, one of which will be manned, CMSEO said.
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