Equipments and systems worked normally during a simulated launch exercise conducted Saturday of the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8, prior to its launch early next month at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest desert area.

China will launch the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Workers are doing the preparation work before the launch.[Photo/Chinamil.com.cn]

The exercise started at 2:58 p.m. under the coordination of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, the command center for Chinese space program.

During the exercise, the compatibility and connectivity of different systems involved in the mission were tested, and results indicated that the systems were all ready for the launch, according to scientists with the mission at the launch center.

Shenzhou-8, to be carried into the space by an upgraded Long March-2F rocket, is expected to perform China's first space docking with Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, a space lab module that was launched in September from the same launch center.

The spacecraft and the rocket were transferred on Wednesday morning to the launch pad at the center.

Scientists with the mission said other preparation work such as the evaluation on the whole system and the fuel injection to the rocket is yet to be finished ahead of the launch mission.

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