Fuel was injected into the modified Long March CZ-2F rocket at 10 a.m. (China Standard Time, CST) on Monday, Oct. 31, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman of China's manned space program.
Technical conditions of all systems are normal, interfaces of different systems are coordinated, ground tests are adequate, contingency plans are ready and all facilities are sound, which meet requirements for a launch, she added.
The launch vehicle is the latest updated model of the Long March-2F rocket, she said. The rocket, 58.3 meters (191 feet) long, has a liftoff weight of 497 tonnes and a payload capacity of 8.13 tonnes.
The target vessel Tiangong-1 completed a 180-degree turn-around to prepare itself for the upcoming docking at 7:34 p.m. CST Sunday under the control of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, said Chen Hongmin, director of the command center for the Chinese space program on Sunday.
He said the spacecraft was lowered to the 343 km (213 mile) high rendezvous and docking orbit on Sunday after a series of maneuvers including orbit control and on-orbit testing during one-month orbits.
"Equipments and technical conditions of Tiangong-1 have met all the requirements for docking," Wu said.
To ensure the success of the mission, Chinese space engineers have made "considerable modifications" on Shenzhou 8 over the previous versions of China's unmanned spacecraft.
Credit: CMSE
Shenzhou 8, with a length of 9 meters (30 feet) and a maximum diameter of 2.8 meters (9 feet), has a liftoff weight of 8.082 tonnes.
"More than half of the 600 or so sets of equipment have been modified technically, while newly designed devices account for about 15 percent of the total," Wu said.
The modifications were mainly aimed at arming the spacecraft with automatic and manual rendezvous and docking capacities, and to enhance the vehicle's performance, safety and reliability, according to Wu.
"After the improvements, the spacecraft will be able to connect with the target spacecraft Tiangong-1 for 180 days," Wu said.
"We have full confidence in the successful launch of Shenzhou 8, as well as the rendezvous and docking mission," she said.