China's second manned space mission is scheduled for lift-off in mid-October, China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, said on September 17. Some experts estimate that about 500 million people will watch the live broadcast of the launch of Shenzhou VI, spelling attractive business profits for media and enterprises from the so-called  "Shenzhou Economy", Beijing Business Today reported last Tuesday.

At 9 AM on October 15, 2003, China's first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou V, was shot into space by the Long March-II-F carrier rocket. Both spacecraft and carrier rocket were designed and built by China. The spacecraft carrying China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, returned safely to earth after orbiting the planet 14 times on a 21-hour mission, making China the third country to send humans into outer space after the United States and Russia.

Economists pointed out that the success of the first mission Shenzhou V not only had a great impact on China's manned aerospace technologies, but also a far-reaching influence on the country's economy.

Professor Dong Zhiyong from the School of Economics at Renmin University believes that future space missions will speed up China's course to becoming the world's third largest economy. According to Professor Han Liyan from the Business Management Institute of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, annual investment in China's aerospace industry is over 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billon) and related sectors within the industry are valued at about 120 billion yuan (US$14.8 billion).

The Shenzhou VI is another homegrown project. Preparations for the second manned space flight involve a large number of key technologies in launching, satellite manufacture and retrieval, monitoring and control as well as life guarantee systems, which has in turn boosted the development of other science and technology sectors, Ma Songde, vice minister of science and technology, said.

Ma was also reported as saying that over 100 enterprises and research institutes were involved in the development of the Shenzhou spacecrafts, with the collaboration of several thousand government and business units.

Economist Fan Gang from the National Economic Research Institute of the China Reform Foundation added: "With the continuous improvement of China's space technology, we should explore what role it can play in improving the country's gross domestic product (GDP). This would depend on how we make this technology more suitable for civilian use."

The impending Shenzhou VI mission also gives impetus to aerospace-related companies on the stock market. A week before, ten companies involved in the development of Shenzhou VI and listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets saw an average increase of over 7 percent in share prices.

According to Beijing Business Today, the China Federation of Industrial Economics (CFIE) has a branding exercise planned for Shenzhou VI, much to the delight of companies eager to cash in on the publicity opportunity. The branding exercise involves outfitting the Shenzhou VI with equipment sponsored by various companies.

According to Great Wall Lubricating Oil Company -- part of oil giant Sinopec -- one of their products has been named "product specially designated for China's space flight" by the China Space Flight Foundation. One of China's milk giants, Mengniu Milk Co. Ltd, is also busy planning their promotional advertisement using Shenzhou VI. Two tea companies in southwest China's Yunnan Province are planning to send 10 grams of pu-er tea into space.

One regret that the business world had about the first space mission was that there was no live broadcast of the launch or safe return to Earth.

However, the Shenzhou VI mission will be vastly different. Beijing Business Today quoted a member of staff from the advertising department of China Central Television as saying that prices of advertising space on launch day will start about 2 million yuan (US$247,185) for a five-second slot. There are three advertising packages to choose from: promotion, live broadcast, and celebration. Prices will start at 2.56 million yuan (US$316,397) for five seconds, 4.76 million yuan (US$588,301) for 15 seconds, and 8.56 million yuan (US$1.1 million) for 30 seconds respectively.

However, the CCTV source refused to disclose which enterprises had already signed advertising contracts with CCTV.

According to Yang Liwei, the Shenzhou VI mission should last five to seven days. Two astronauts will be sent into space this time. But Yang will not be one of them because he said he would like to make way for younger, more talented people. 

According to Beijing Business Today, the two astronauts will most likely be Yang's colleagues, Zai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng. However, this has not been confirmed.

Bai Shumin, director of Astronauts' Space Food Research Office said all food brought on the Shenzhou V mission was "instant" or ready-to-eat. However, on Shenzhou VI, the astronauts will have the "luxury" of tucking into hot food and beverages. They will also have more choices in terms of flavors, up to 50 to be exact. Their mainstay will be rice dishes cooked with seafood, chicken, beef or pork.

(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 26, 2005)