"This will be very soon, very soon," he told reporters at an ASEAN summit in Bali and monitored here, in response to questions about the launch of China's first manned space mission, 42 years after the Soviets first put a human in orbit.

Experts believe a seven-day launch window could begin on Friday with October 15 touted as a possible date for lift-off, weather permitting.

The Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper in Hong Kong cited authoritative sources as saying last week that the launch is expected "right after" a Communist Party Central Committee plenary meeting ending on October 14.

Wen however insisted a specific date had yet to be finalised.

"The time has not been finalised yet," he said when asked if the launch would be next week.

The mission, which would place China alongside the United States and the former Soviet Union as the only nations to send a man into space, has been shrouded in secrecy.

Until now, no political figure has commented on the historic flight despite intense media interest, although, in a sign that the veil may be lifted, two Chinese television stations will reportedly broadcast the event live.

The Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV said China Central Television would air the launch on Channel 4, its international channel, and Channel 9, its English-language channel.

Chinese scientists are said to be working 18 hours a day to prepare the flight, which will be sent into the stars by the Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province.

The craft, carrying one or two astronauts, is expected to orbit the Earth up to 10 times before returning to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia within 24 hours.

Chinese space officials have indicated that the pilot will be selected on the morning of the flight from a pool of three or four astronauts, although Li Qinglong or Wu Jie, two men who have trained in Russia's space program, are said to be favourites.

The Shenzhou program, which began in 1992, is considered the preliminary step towards sending a probe to the moon and building and manning a Chinese space station.

China has so far launched four unmanned spaceflights, the last of which, Shenzhou IV, successfully returned to earth on January 5 after a 162-hour mission.

Space officials have said China hopes to launch a space probe capable of orbiting the moon by 2005 or 2006.

Besides putting China's first astronaut in space, the Shenzhou V, or Divine Vessel V, is also expected to carry out scientific and remote earth sensing experiments.

China's manned space program has taken on mammoth proportions, employing tens of thousands of scientific, manufacturing and planning personnel in more than 3,000 factories.

SPACE.WIRE