China's third manned spacecraft is under assembly, a chief Shenzhou spacecraft consultant said here Thursday. "All the equipment of the separate systems has been delivered to China's space aviation center for assembly," Qi Faren, chief designer of China's first five Shenzhou spaceships, and chief consultant for Shenzhou 6 and 7, said at a major air show here in Guangdong province.

Qi said three astronauts will man Shenzhou 7 and they are expected to carry out space walks during the third manned space flight planned for 2008.

Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space, said he and the astronauts on China's second manned spacecraft, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, were all being trained for Shenzhou 7, and would possibly be chosen for the third mission.

Yang said that since astronauts would carry out space walks for the first time, the mission required even higher physical, technical and psychological standards.

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