Qi Faren, 70, chief designer of China's spacecraft, said a group of well-educated young professionals with good managerial skills were trained during the development of the vessel, which is more valuable than the successful manned space mission itself.

China's first astronaut Yang Liwei returned to the Earth on Oct.16 after orbiting the planet 14 times in 21 hours, making China the third country capable of independently putting a person into space.

Space officials and experts say thousands of young professionals tempered in the 11-year-old project are an important human resource for China's future space endeavors.

About 80 percent of the engineers and technicians working for the space project are under 40, with some even under 30.

Liu Feng, 27, is the commander of the error inspection system for the carrier rocket for the project while Qin Wenbo, vice-chief designer of the spacecraft system, is only 37 years old.

The stars include rocket expert Zhang Qingwei, 42, deputy chief commander of the space project; Yuan Jiajun, 41, chief commander of the spacecraft system and president of the China Academy of Space Technology; and rocket expert Wu Yansheng, 39, president of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

At the age of 40, Zhang Qingwei was appointed in 2001 general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which has 103,000 employees, and develops, among other things, the launch vehicle and spacecraft.

Zhang said two thirds of the 10,000 engineers and technicians in the corporation are young people.

"It was one of the objectives of the manned space program that the Chinese government set in 1992 to train a large group of young space engineers and technicians," said Zhang.

Wang Yongzhi, chief designer of China's manned space project, said the emergence of young space specialists in large numbers indicates the country's space program has a prosperous future.

According to China's manned space plan approved in 1992 by the Chinese government, China will set up a space laboratory and then a space station in the future.

Shenzhou V and the Business Boom Friday
China's successful manned spaceflight, marking the realization of a long-cherished dream of the nation, has undoubtedly brought about briskness to business-dealers. In so early as half a year before the launch, some enterprises rushed to join hands with China's aeronautic development. The moment when Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, calmly set his foot onto the Chinese soil has made more businessmen wild with joy to pick up the "windfall from the space".

Hype campaign by relevant trades

The success of China's manned spaceflight is an opportune chance for which many advertising agencies, which habitually like to jump on the bandwagon would never afford to lose. One week before and after the launch, relevant advertisements dominated the Tvs, newspapers, and networks.

"Sina.com yield a lot from the success of Shenzhou V." According to Mr. Lin, client's relationship controller in marketing section with sina.com, Shenzhou V generated at least 3m to 5m worth of revenue for his net. "Such an earning as from one feature is quite considerable to net media."

Mr. Lin told us that most of their clients in this influx brought about by Shenzhou V are related with aeronautics, such as Mengniu milk, the "designated milk for the astronauts", the "Great Wall" lubricant for the spacecraft and the jeep conveying the astronaut aboard the craft, and Shenzhou V souvenirs sellers, etc. Some enterprises, for example, Legend computer intending to improve its business image of a national brand and Bo'ao Forum for a ride on the successful liftoff. Feedback from the netizens showed that these advertisements are quite paid off. The efforts of brand building by these national enterprises as supporters of China's aeronautic course are very rewarding.

"Space dinner" selling well

Served as the astronaut's diet, the homemade dishes, namely "Eight-treasure rice pudding", "fish-flavored shredded pork", and "spicy hot diced chicken and peanuts" are called the "space dinner" now. They turned extraordinarily popular in an overnight. Our reporter found that some restaurants were considering taking the advantage of the event when the space recipe was made public. A chef told the reporter: "It is common to adorn a Shenzhou V model made of flour on a cold dish and our diners are very pleased with it."

This report was compiled from news reports written and translated by People's Daily

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