The possibility of following in the footsteps of Yang Liwei, who became China's first man in space in 2003, has opened up with the entry of US tour operator Space Adventures into the Chinese market, the Beijing News said.

Hoping to attract customers among the increasingly affluent Chinese, Space Adventures signed a cooperation agreement with Hong Kong Space Tour Corporation on Sunday in the south Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to the paper.

As of now, just one unnamed Chinese has signed up for one of Space Adventures' tour packages, but the two companies expect more to follow soon, the paper said.

The plan is for a group of more than 20 Chinese to leave for spaceflight training in the United States as early as May this year, at a price of hundreds of thousands of yuan (tens of thousands of dollars), according to the report.

The training "combines medical screenings with accurate and realistic simulations," according to the company's website.

It was unclear from the report if the Chinese tour group would go on to participate in the real spaceflight experiences offered by the company, in which case the price tag would increase greatly.

The paper said the price for a suborbital flight would most likely exceed 100,000 dollars.

Millionaire US businessman Dennis Tito paid a reported 20 million dollars to become the world's first space tourist in 2001.

China plans to launch its second manned spaceflight. Shenzhou-6, later this year.

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