China said it had set the launch of its Shenzhou-9 manned space mission, which will include the nation's first woman in space, for late Saturday, according to dpa. The spacecraft would be launched on a Long March-2F carrier rocket at 6:37 pm (1037 GMT) Saturday carrying a crew of three, the China Manned Space Programme reported on its website. Former air-force pilot Liu Yang was named as the astronaut chosen to become China's first woman to join a space mission. Two male astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, would also take part in the mission. The astronauts are tasked with performing China's first manned docking man oeuvres and setting up a simple space laboratory formed by linking the Shenzhou spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 orbital capsule. Officials would introduce the three astronauts to state media later Friday at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the north-western province of Gansu, the report said.
