Once the craft, known as "Shenzhou IV" or "Divine Vessel IV", has returned successfully it will not be long before a first Chinese person leaves the earth's atmosphere, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

"There will be no difference between the flight of 'Shenzhou IV' and that of a manned spacecraft," said Hu Hongfu, deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which develops the rocket carriers and the spacecraft.

"After a successful launch, and following some further careful work, with emphasis on the safety of the astronauts, the first Chinese will be able to travel in space," he said.

China has long held the ambition of becoming the third country in the world to stage a manned space flight after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

During a visit last month to the United States, President Jiang Zemin toured Houston's Johnson Space Center, the control base for US space missions.

In July a Pentagon report said a manned Chinese mission could happen within the next 18 months, and that China plans to eventually build a reusable space vehicle similar to the US space shuttle.

China set up its space program in 1992 and the first experimental Shenzhou craft was launched November 20, 1999, returning to earth in China's northern Inner Mongolia region the next day.

The Shenzhou II was launched on January 10, 2001, with the re-entry module orbiting the earth 108 times in six days, while an orbital module remained in orbit for nine months, successfully performing a series of tests.

The Shenzhou II module's return was greeted by a press blackout that left Western analysts suspecting a re-entry failure. Chinese officials denied this.

Shenzhou III was launched on March 25 this year, with the re-entry vehicle successfully returning to Inner Mongolia a week later.

In May, official Chinese media said that a longer-term plan was to establish a base on the moon in order to exploit its mineral resources.

SPACE.WIRE