China to launch Shenzhou-8 early November

 　　JIUQUAN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- China will launch the spacecraft Shenzhou-8 in early November at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest deseart area.

　　The unmanned spacecraft is expected to perform China's first space docking with Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, a space lab module¹ that was launched in September from the same launch center.

　　The spacecraft and its carrier rocket, an upgraded Long March-2F, were transferred on Wednesday morning on a 20-meter-wide railway to the launch pad.

　　The launch pad is 1,500 meters away from the assembling and testing center. It took nearly two hours to complete the transfer.

　　Technicians completed testing on the assembling of Shenzhou-8 and the rocket after they were delivered to the launch center at the end of August, said Lu Jinrong, the launch center's chief engineer.

　　In the next few days, the launch center will continue testing the spacecraft and the rocket, and inject propellent before the final launch in early November, Lu said.

　　The assembling, testing and transferring of the spacecraft and rocket were all conducted while they were vertical².

　　Shenzhou-8 is capable of docking with the spacecraft Tiangong-1 in both manual and automatic modes.

　　The Tiangong-1 space lab module is functioning smoothly³ in the orbit, and all equipment and experiments are going well, according to Lu. The module is ready for the docking task, Lu said.

1 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

2 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

3 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。