(UPI Top Stories Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)China says its next major project after the 2008 Summer Olympics is space.

The People's Daily Thursday said in September following the Olympics China plans to launch a Shenzhou-7 spacecraft with three astronauts for preliminary work on a Chinese space station.

The astronauts will perform work outside the spacecraft such as installing equipment and tightening screws -- part of drills for building a space station.

The plans call for a 20-ton station, said Song Zhengyu, a research fellow with the First Institute of the China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. and deputy director-designer of the launch vehicle. Analysts say China wants to build its own space station to keep up with other countries while showing it can do high-tech exploration.

Learning from Russian technology, China began its Shenzhou program in 1992 launching four unmanned missions. It sent a man into Earth orbit for 21 hours in October 2003 and two men on a five-day mission last October.

Chinese officials have said they want to eventually send a manned mission to the moon. People's Daily said the first lunar vehicle would be launched in April 2007, to orbit the moon, with further flights through 2017.