China has joined two space vehicles in orbit for the first time.
Officials say the unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft, launched earlier this week, has made contact with the Tiangong-1 space lab.
The docking occurred over China itself on Tuesday (Thursday in China).
The craft will spend two weeks circling the globe together before Shenzhou 8 returns to Earth.
The BBC says that being able to dock two space vehicles together is a necessary capability for China if it wants to start building a space station towards the decade's end.
