Space project offers national glory but little benefit, say analysts

As the launch of the nation's fourth and final unmanned spacecraft approaches, experts say China will soon be able to send a person into space - but many question the overall purpose of the programme.

The United States and the former Soviet Union mastered the technology to put people into orbit in the 1960s, so experts say China should have no trouble doing the same 40 years later, especially without the pressure of a space race with other countries.

While the nation's space technology is mostly locally made, Russia has provided some assistance, such as making the capsule that will eventually carry Chinese taikonauts into space.

A technology manager with a foreign firm in Beijing said: 'China will do it when it's ready. It's not a race, so they don't need to do it fast. They'll do it right.'

China has so far launched three unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft, which all tested the ability to carry a person.

Two were reported successful. But no findings were reported from the second launch, in January this year, and a Western diplomat in Beijing said that suggests it was a failure. One possibility is that it crashed when its parachutes failed to open rather than landing smoothly in Inner Mongolia.