As early as next year, officials at the space program will start looking for the right candidate among the nation's 630 million females, the Beijing Times said.

The lucky winner will go through a strenuous and demanding training regime before she blasts off onboard a "Shenzhou" spacecraft, probably as a researcher or technician, at the end of the decade, according to the paper.

"The job of steering the 'Shenzhou' will still go to a man," the paper said, quoting an unnamed official with the space program. "Men and women have their specific responsibilities, they share the work and cooperate."

The female astronaut will play a key role in China's plans to establish a permanent manned space station, the paper reported.

The chief designer of the Chinese space program said last month he expected a space station would be established within 15 years.

China pulled off its first manned space flight in October last year, when astronaut Yang Liwei -- now a national hero and household name -- orbited the Earth 14 times.

It put China alongside the United States and the former Soviet Union as the only countries in the world to send a man into orbit.

SPACE.WIRE