Science and technology are changing the face of the earth and efforts should be made to utilise the technological gains to transform the country, Vajpayee was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

"Those who wonder what could be achieved by such space missions simply want the status quo to continue," he said after laying the foundation of a refinery expansion plant in the northern town of Panipat, 70 kilometres (43 miles) from New Delhi.

China Wednesday launched an astronaut into space aboard the Shenzhou V craft, sending it into the elite club of countries with manned space programmes alongside Russia and the United States.

Astronaut Yang Liwei safely landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Thursday, following a 21-hour flight during which he orbited the earth 14 times.

Vajpayee also paid homage to Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla who died in February this year in the Columbia shuttle tragedy.

India has a keen space rivalry with its giant neighbour and just a few days after China said in January it would send a human into orbit, Vajpayee publicly urged his country's scientists to work towards sending a man to the moon.

Last month the Indian cabinet approved a proposal by space authorities to send an unmanned mission to the moon by 2008.

SPACE.WIRE