"It's regrettable that in the short-term there won't be any female astronauts," Huang Weifen, a female trainer for China's astronauts, was quoted saying by the Guangzhou Daily.

Huang said the reason was not any shortcomings on the part of women, but because the spacecraft China uses was designed for men.

"If there are female astronauts, there is much equipment on the spacecraft that must be changed because men and women have a different biological makeup.

For instance, the human waste collection machines will have to be changed," Huang said.

"For a spacecraft, changing the engineering design system is too complicated. It will reduce the spacecraft's dependability," she said.

China became the third country in the world to send a man into space when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited 14 times around the planet in October.

Yang is among 14 men being trained for China's next spaceflight, expected to be launched in 2005, Guangzhou Daily said.

Non-astronauts -- scientists and space engineers -- will be sent to space in the future, but not on the next flight, the report said.

The Jiangnan Daily, meanwhile, quoted Huang Chunping, chief commander of rocket launching for October's Shenzhou V mission, said China's next goal is to set up a periodically-manned space station.

Following that, China's space program hopes to build a 20-ton space station which will be constantly manned, she said.

SPACE.WIRE