"From what we have seen, their capabilities are quite impressive," O'Keefe told AFP. China is "developing a capability that only two other nations on this planet have done. That's a rather historic landmark achievement."

He said that "by all indications," Beijing's objective in the upcoming manned space mission "is assertion of national sovereignty and the capacity to develop technology to achieve broader objectives.

"It appears to be advanced as a national objective by the People's Republic to establish themselves as having technology capabilities to begin the extensive space exploration adventure," said O'Keefe.

"Let's just take them at what they have said."

Several US experts have speculated that China is aiming to catch up with the United States and Russia, which already have numerous military spy satellites in orbit.

Next Wednesday has been unofficially mentioned as a probable launch date for China's first manned space flight, Shenzhu V, with a three-man crew, to be launched from a site in Inner Mongolia on a 90-minute flight.

SPACE.WIRE