Communist party officials and other VIPs gladly accepted a bumpy nine-hour train ride from the industrial hub of Lanzhou for the privilege of watching Shenzhou VI blast off Wednesday, carrying two astronauts on a five-day mission.

"We didn't get a chance to watch the first manned launch two years ago, so this time we really wanted to go," said one of the passengers, a middle-aged woman.

"My husband works for a telecom company that's doing business with the launch center, so I secured an invite for me and my daughter."

The official Xinhua news agency confirmed lift off would be on Wednesday morning after officials involved in the launch earlier AFP it would launch at 9 am (0100 GMT) Wednesday.

Xinhua said the two astronauts had been selected and were undergoing final physical examinations Tuesday.

Previous reports said that Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng would pilot the craft although at least one state newspaper Tuesday said Zhai had been dropped in favor of Fei Junlong.

"Preparations for the launch are going well," an unnamed official on the space program told Xinhua.

Like its first manned launch in October 2003, which made China only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to send a man into orbit, this one will take place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

A community of 15,000 served by everything from an Olympic-size swimming pool to a fast-food joint, it is located on the edge of the Gobi desert, several hours' drive away from Jiuquan city.

"The military is in charge there, and they maintain strict discipline, like imposing curfews at night," said Wang Xiuqing, a 25-year-old Jiuquan resident who previously worked as a driver at the launch center.

He remembers the excitement at the center when Shenzhou V was launched two years ago in a cloud of fire and with a deafening roar.

The launch center is only rarely open to visitors, and this week it has been sealed off completely, with roadblocks in place and the military patrolling the area. Foreign reporters are banned.

Undeterred by the strict controls, space enthusiasts from all over China started arriving here in groups as early as a week ago.

They might have had a better shot at getting a good look if they had stayed at home in front of their TV sets.

China's state television announced it would broadcast the launch live, reflecting confidence that it will go according to plan.

Foreign observers said China had good reason not to worry, as it was not taking any major risks with Shenzhou VI as compared with Shenzhou V.

"It's the same kind of spacecraft doing the same kind of thing, except that they must prove that their system can work for five days rather than just one day," said David Baker, a London-based space policy analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly.

"The last Shenzhou unmanned missions stayed up for up to five days, so they're not trying anything that their unmanned versions of Shenzhou have not done already."

The Shenzhou spacecraft is based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, and consists of three modules.

These include the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.

Keenly aware of the military, scientific and commercial benefits of space exploration, China has been aggressively pursuing space travel for years.

Since its space program was set up in 1992 it has grown to employ tens of thousands of scientists and other personnel.

related report
Confident China Prepares For Second Manned Foray Into Space
China was expected to launch its second manned space mission on Wednesday from a remote desert region, swelling national pride and leaving many foreign observers in awe at what the country has achieved.

The launch of Shenzhou VI has been shrouded in secrecy and is subject to weather conditions, but an official from the technical department of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center said it would happen on Wednesday.

"It is October 12 at 9:00 am," the official, who refused to be named, told

The China National Space Administration could not confirm the date. However, a travel agent taking domestic tourists to witness the launch said he had been advised to be at the site early Wednesday morning.

China's state news agency Xinhua early Tuesday reported in an "urgent" dispatch that the launch would take place "at a proper time" between Wednesday and Saturday. It quoted an unnamed official of the space program.

Xinhua said the launch would be broadcast live on China Central Television, on radio and the Internet.

The six astronauts shortlisted for the two-member mission have arrived at the launch pad in Inner Mongolia, the China News Service said, quoting engineers at the launch center.

China's state-run press reported that Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng would likely pilot the five-day mission.

It will be almost exactly two years after the successful October 15, 2003 launch of astronaut Yang Liwei into space, making China only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to accomplish such a feat.

"The Chinese should be very proud of what they are accomplishing," said David Baker, a London-based space policy analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"It's the kind of activity that only a developed and well-organized industrial nation can pull off."

While the Shenzhou technology is based on 1950s and 1960s Soviet science, analysts said it would be wrong to shrug off China's space program.

"If it was easy, China wouldn't be the third country with a manned program," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on Chinas space program at the US Naval War College.

"The technology isn't exactly breakthrough technology, but being able to put it all together and make it work, is sending a message that in fact China has integration skills, it has follow-through capability to build this kind of technology."

The Shenzhou spacecraft, based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, is basically the same this time as two years ago.

It consists of three modules -- the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.

During his 21-hour trip to space in 2003, Yang never left the re-entry capsule, but this time will be different.

The two astronauts will enter into the orbital module in the front to conduct a large number of tests, presumably designed to check their physical reactions to conditions in space.

"This is very, very typical of the Chinese space program," said Brian Harvey, the Dublin-based author of a book on China's space endeavors. "They go quite a big step each time. They very rarely repeat missions."

The data collected will be used for what is China's objective for the medium term: a space station to promote cutting-edge scientific research in orbit and boost national pride on the ground.

China's spending on its space program is a state secret, but what is clear is that by international standards it is a mere shoestring budget.

Harvey believes it is around six billion dollars -- or approximately one sixth of the American expenditure.

Still, the question posed by many is why Beijing is pushing on with its space program at all.

"The answer really lies in prestige first, direct economic and social applications second, and using the space program as a cutting-edge tool for technology third," said Harvey.

As befitting a country proud to tout its 5,000-year history, China is not going into space just for short-term considerations.

"Much more than America, much more than Europe, China really does look at the very, very long-term view," said Baker of Jane's Defence Weekly.

"And it does see that in this century, and it may take the whole of this century, it wants to end up having options to exploit if there is a commercial purpose to mining lunar materials for instance."

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