China is manufacturing Shenzhou-6, a spacecraft for more than one astronauts, planning Shenzhou-7 and conducting feasibility studies on future space docking and the setting-up of a permanent laboratory in orbit, a senior designer said in Beijing Friday.

"The astronauts are going to stay in orbit for more than five days and will meet harsher challenges to their stamina, survival capability and psychological quality," said Hu Shixiang, deputy commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Last October China succeeded in launching its first manned space vehicle, Shenzhou-5, into orbit, carrying only one astronaut, Yang Liwei, for a 21-hour flight in outer space.

Yang Liwei will join other Chinese astronauts and face new tests on an equal footing for the Shenzhou-6 mission, said Hu, who is one of the legislators attending the on-going parliament session in Beijing.

He disclosed Chinese scientists and engineers are studying all the problems that occurred during the previous launching of the Shenzhou spacecraft series, in a hope to ensure a more secure operation of Shenzhou-6.

Space could be an ideal place for manufacturing industrial materials and pharmaceuticals that are difficult to be produced on the Earth. "A future space docking and the establishment of a space lab will make it possible for us to explore space resources," he said. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2004)