Yang Liwei, the first Chinese citizen in space, announced on Thursday that candidate astronauts for the country's second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VI spaceship, are undergoing training and in excellent condition.

Shenzhou VI will carry two astronauts for a five-day space flight. According to Huang Chunping, the former general commander of Shenzhou V, the astronauts are being trained to live in a sealed capsule for seven days, so it will be easier for them to spend five days in Shenzhou VI.

Huang said the preparation of the next flight is going smoothly and 14 astronauts, of whom Yang is one, have all gone through seven to eight years of hard training and are all in good shape. All of the astronauts have an equal chance of being picked for it, Yang included.

"Shenzhou VI is scheduled for launch in September 2005. I would personally prefer other astronauts to be picked, meaning China will have had three astronauts in space," said Huang.

Compared to Shenzhou V, there is no change in the overall design of Shenzhou VI, but it has a heavier orbital capsule and larger payload -- an additional 200 kilograms.
 
In addition, since it will carry two astronauts rather than one, there will be more work to do in maintaining the capsule's internal environment.

(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, December 23, 2004)