Earlier today, China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace") unmanned test module in Earth orbit. Three Chinese astronauts (or "taikonauts") entered the module, making China only the third country on Earth to perform a manned docking in space.

The docking procedure itself was completely automatic, and now that the taikonauts (including China's first female taikonaut, People's Liberation Army pilot Liu Yang) are safely inside the module, they'll get a chance to do some exploring. Apparently some "surprise trinkets" were hidden in different places inside the module before it launched, since "discovering unexpected items by themselves could add more fun to living in space," according to the general director of China's astronaut system department.

China's long-term goal is to construct a permanent manned station by about 2020 or so. It's not going to be as big as the ISS (think more like Skylab or Mir), but since the ISS may not even be around anymore by the end of the decade, China's going to be in a pretty good spot up there in orbit all by itself.

The taikonauts are scheduled to spend 13 days in orbit, returning to Earth late next week.

Via Space.com