China's next manned mission in mid-June, will have first female astronaut in space.

(CNN) -- China's historic spacecraft docking mission this month will involve a female astronaut, state-run Xinhua reported.

Either Liu Yang or Wang Yaping -- selected among China's first batch of women astronauts -- will be among the three-person crew to launch aboard the Shenzhou-9, according to Xinhua.

If all goes well with the launch, which is planned for mid-June, the Shenzhou-9 will dock with China's orbiting space laboratory, making the nation the third after the United States and Russia to complete a manned space docking.

As a precaution in case of an emergency, one of the crewmembers will not board the lab, a spokesperson for the space program said in February.

China has big aspirations for its space program with hopes to build a space station like the International Space Station and to conduct a manned mission to the moon.