Who would have predicted?

China National Space Administration (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the Chinese space program achieved a historic rendezvous in space last fall, love poets were inspired to write, reports Clara Moscowitx at Space.com.  To illustrate . . .

Several different Chinese newspapers and commentators have described the Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace") and Shenzhou 8 ("Divine Vessel") spacecraft, which linked up in orbit today for the first time, as "lovers" making a "kiss in space," state newspaper Xinhua reported.
"Tiangong, my lover, for the arrival of this moment -- wait for me. I'm coming," reads a poem called "Lovers' Talk," published in Tianfu Zaobao, a Sichuan-based daily,according to Xinhua.

To me this symbolizes how an ancient civilization has achieved a significant degree of integration between art and science.  It reminds me of something I wrote back in 2006 called, “Sweet Dreams in Space,”  a poem celebrating the importance of connections between between earthly beings and those floating in space. 
To conclude from the current story . . .

Today's docking experiment was pronounced a "complete success" by Chinese space agency leaders. It will be followed by a second docking between the same two spacecraft, and then dockings betweenTiangong 1 and Shenzhou 9 and 10, set to launch in 2012.
The activities are all part of China's plans to develop its own manned space station by 2020.

Sweet dreams to all of you.