"Shaking the Heavens", a documentary by China Central Television, will begin airing on Monday just days before the Shenzhou V is expected to be launched from the Jiuquan Launch Center in the northwest, the Beijing Star Daily reported.

Producer of the documentary Li Ying said he had interviewed more than 130 Chinese space experts and officials since embarking on the 2.0 million yuan (240,000 dollar) project in 2001.

"Several of these people have never been permitted to speak in public," Li told the paper, referring to the secrecy surrounding China's military space program.

The mission, if successful, will place China in an elite club with Russia and the United States who since the 1960s have been the only countries in the world to put man in space.

In the run-up to the expected October 15 launch, China has appeared to be caught in a dilemma as it tries to balance the secretive needs of its military with the overwhelming propaganda mileage and national pride that would accrue with a successful mission.

After widespread international reports on the space mission, state media began in recent days to slowly release details on the imminent launch.

Besides documenting Chinese successes in space, like the first guided missile and satellite launches, the television program will also reveal some of the nation's unknown space tragedies, including the death of a rocket designer in a launch explosion, it said.

SPACE.WIRE