China's first spaceman says China to build space station eventually

China will build its own space station in outer space eventually, Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space, has said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"China will build a space laboratory after the Shenzhou VII spacecraft is successfully launched, and eventually build its own space station to resolve the problems related to large-scale space-based scientific experiments and technological applications, " Yang said at an airshow in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province.

Yang, 41, now deputy director of the Beijing Space Medico-Engineering Institute, made a 21-hour orbital tour aboard the Shenzhou V spacecraft in October 2003, making China the third country after the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve the feat.

The second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VI, was launched in October last year and completed a five-day flight with two astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng carrying out space-based experiments.

Shenzhou VII is expected to carry three astronauts on its mission in 2008.

"Currently, we three -- Fei, Nie and I -- and some other astronauts are being trained for the third space mission," Yang said.

Yang said other new tasks would include spacewalks by astronauts and rendezvous docking of spacecraft.

Asked when China's space program would select and train women astronauts, Yang said there were no such plans yet.

"China has no such demand as required by a space mission for now and premature selection would be a huge waste of resources," he said.

"But it would be no problem for Chinese women astronauts to accomplish space missions from the physical, psychological and technological points of view, and I believe China will have women astronauts in the near future along with the progress of the country's space program that will give rise to new tasks and demands," he said.

Yang also said that China's manned space program was aiming at the peaceful exploitation of space.

"We should more cherish and protect the peaceful environment of existence that we are enjoying," he said.

Source: Xinhua