By sending a man into space, China is hoping to join the United States and Russia in one of the most elite clubs in the world.

　　Following a recent successful, though unmanned, test launch, China announced that it would attempt to send two men into space later this year on a shenzhou V rocket. While the names of China’s first astronauts have yet to be announ

ced, at least 14 fighter pilots have been chosen to train for the mission, and some have been sent to Russia’s cosmonaut school.

　　While China has been developing rockets since the 1950s, it has recently made great strides in rocket technology and regularly launches commercial satellites for Us and British companies. Government officials have said a successful manned mission would help improve the image of China‘s space program and boost business for its commercial rocket launches.

　　China’s launch would come over 40 years after the first manned space flight—Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961 and John Glenn was the first American in 1962. But manned space flight is still a risky endeavor, and the Chinese rocket will blast off while memories of the recent Space Shuttle disaster are still fresh.

　　However, China’s space ambitions seem to extend beyond putting people into space, with officials hinting that China may be the second country to ever put a man on the moon.

　　“The short-term goal is to send Chinese people into space,”said Huang Chunping, chief commander of rocketry for the Shenzhou project.“The grand vision for the future is to explore space. Both are inspiring to the Chinese people.”