Having launched its first manned space capsule in the fall of 2003, China, the third country to put people into space after Russia and the United States, is planning to carry out a space walk next year.

According to the country's space program plans, the Shenzhou VII will be launched in 2008 with three astronauts on board, one of whom will leave the spaceship to perform a space walk. Qi Faren, the chief designer of China's first five Shenzhou spaceships and the chief consultant for the Shenzhou VI and VII, disclosed the plans at a group discussion during the annual meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, held in Beijing.

According to sources in the relevant department, Chinese scientists are working on the spacesuit for the astronaut, key equipment for the space walk. "Now, the design of the spacesuit has been completed, and the finished spacesuit is awaiting tests in order to meet the technical requirements for walking outside the spaceship," Qi said.

The Shenzhou VII is expected to remain in space for five days, and no experiments or maintenance activities will be conducted outside the capsule, Qi said. He also said the Shenzhou VIII, Shenzhou IX and Shenzhou X are in the planning stages, and the intervals between launches will become shorter. The final goal is to establish a space station, based on which scientists will carry out scientific experiments and conduct research on the Earth, he added.

Qi also said China has no plans yet to put women astronauts into space, although a group of women airplane pilots have been chosen as would-be astronaut candidates.

Along with the Shenzhou series of space flights, China's program of probing the moon has been going smoothly. Huang Chunping, former commander in chief of the launch vehicle system of the country's manned space mission, told the media that China will launch its first lunar exploration satellite, the Chang'e I, in the latter half of this year, and the satellite will be lifted into space by a Long March 3-A carrier rocket.

He also disclosed that the country's new generation of carrier rockets, designed to launch a space station, will be ready in seven to eight years. The new generation of rockets is likely to be named Long March V and its delivery capacity can be increased from 9 tons to 25 tons, he said.

"The design of the carrier rocket's engines has been completed, and researchers succeeded in the engine's first testing in mid-2006," said Huang.

China's moon exploration program will be carried out in three stages. The orbiter will be followed by a remote-controlled lunar rover, and in the third phase a module will drill out a chunk of the moon and bring it back to the Earth.

The scientist also said that China would possess the technical capability to send astronauts to the moon in 15 years.

"The goal to land astronauts on the moon can surely be achieved in 15 years, though some unexpected difficulties could appear," said Huang, who is in Beijing to attend the CPPCC.

Acknowledging that the success of a moonwalk depends largely on the development of the rocket technology, Huang said he has "full confidence" on the development of China's rocket industry. According to him, China is a member of the world's leading rocket "club" together with the United States, Russia and Europe.