Spaceflight

China's next manned spaceflight, scheduled for launch next year, will last five to seven days, according to chief designer Wang Yongzhi. Following last October's first Chinese manned spaceflight by astronaut Yang Liwei in Shenzhou 5, two "taikonauts" are expected to fly in Shenzhou 6, which will be launched by Long March 2F.

Shenzhou 6 will resemble Shenzhou 5 but, after launch, the two astronauts will transfer to an orbital module to conduct experiments. After the flights of Shenzhou 7 and 8, China plans to launch a space station module, says Wang. Future Shenzhou craft will dock with the space laboratory as a first step towards development of a Chinese space station.