CHINA is aiming for its third manned flight next year, with one of the three astronauts aboard making a half-hour spacewalk, according to Qi Faren, chief designer of Shenzhou spacecraft.

Two astronauts will stay in the capsule, Shenzhou VII, and one will conduct a space- walk, Qi said, after earlier reports said all three astronauts would walk in space.

The Beijing Morning Post quoted Huang Chunping, chief consultant for China's manned launch vehicle system, as saying the Shenzhou VII spacecraft will be ready this year.

However, work is still ongoing on the suit the astronaut will wear on the spacewalk.

Qi said Shenzhou VII is scheduled to achieve the goal of a spacewalk, while Shenzhou VIII and Shenzhou IX are expected to dock together by 2010.

China's first manned space launch in 2003 made it the third country to send a human into orbit on its own, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

A second spaceflight carrying two astronauts took place in October 2005. The Shenzhou VI flight carried two astronauts and lasted 115 hours and 32 minutes, more than five times the duration of the Shenzhou V mission.

Editor: Wing