China plans 5 day space trip this year

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- China plans to send two astronauts into orbit this fall for a five-day trip.

China Daily reports that Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration, has confirmed the proposal for the country's second manned space mission.

Sun also said that China plans to work more closely with the United States in the future. The head of NASA is scheduled to make a trip to China this year.

On China's first mission, astronaut Yang Liwei spent 21 hours in orbit. Sun said that if the next mission is successful, the country will proceed to space walking and spaceship docking in 2007.