The Zijin Mountain observatory has already received the approval from the Chinese government to name the planet after Yang and is forwarding the request to the Boston-based Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union, the Beijing Times reported.

If successful, naming the star after Yang, who orbited the earth 14 times in October, would be an "international and eternal" honor, the paper said.

According to the report, the observatory in eastern Nanjing city, Jiangsu province has discovered some 1,000 stars in outer space and has naming rights to up to 100.

The report did not detail the location of the star that the observatory hopes to name after Yang.

Following the successful flight of the Shenzhou V or "divine craft," astronaut Yang was hailed as "space hero" in November by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin.

On October 15, China became the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the United States to successfully put a man in space and bring him back safely.

SPACE.WIRE