The State-approved celebration will take place from last week of September to mid-October.

The World Space Week is one of the recommendations made at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), held last July in Vienna.

During the U.N. General Assembly last December, resolution 54/68 declared World Space Week as a new annual event. Each year from October 4 to 10 celebrations will be held "at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition."

The opening of the Week marks the anniversary of the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik by the former Soviet Union in 1957 while the ending of the Week celebrates the signing of the Treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 1967.

The theme of this year's World Space Week is "The Space Millennium".

The celebration in China is designed to create greater awareness among the public, especially youths, about the Chinese space program and technologies, and encourage public support of and participation in the national program.

Organizers of the Chinese World Space Week activities include ministries of foreign affairs, science and technology, education, Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and China Aerospace Mechinery and Electronics Corporation.

The organizing committee says that a space exhibition will be held at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution here from September 28 to October 6. At the exhibition a replica of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft will make its first public appearance within China.

According to Luo Ge, Director of the organizing committee, the exhibition will have comprehensive information and the latest development in space technologies worldwide on display.

If the Shenzhou replica at this exhibition is an engineering or flight-ready model, its existence suggests that China has built at least two such models that can be used in actual missions. Another model is on display at the same time period in the major Chinese space exhibition in Hong Kong.

In addition to the exhibition, on October 4 two thousand invited guests will attend a ceremony on the 43rd anniversary of the beginning of Space Age. Two new books on the development of space technology will be launched at the National Library on October 10. Academics will present scientific reports at various celebration conferences that will be held at universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Harbin.

China will join more than 20 countries, such as U.S., Russia, Austria, U.K., Canada, Brazil, The Netherlands, Mexico and Japan, to celebrate the event this year.

Luo said that China would take the festive occasion to strengthen exchange with other nations and to expand the country's influence in international space affairs.

He reiterated the Chinese government's stance on the peaceful utilization and development of space technology.

U.N. General Assembly resolution 54/68

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