China has a dozen astronauts now in training, from which a crew of two to three will be selected to pilot a Shenzhou spacecraft, likely to fly next year.

Bolstered by the April 1 landing of their Shenzhou 3 reentry module, Chinese space planners also plan to construct and orbit a permanent space station, report several Chinese news agencies.

The first batch of Chinese astronauts are pilots of fighter planes, selected from over 2,000 candidates, reports China People's Daily, citing space official, Qin Wenbo, identified only as Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

Qin Wenbo said that the names of the astronauts who will ride a Shenzhou into orbit are to be announced prior to the launch of a Shenzhou 5. That would appear to indicate that a Shenzhou 6 is likely designated to carry China's first space crew into Earth orbit.

The recently returned Shenzhou 3 spacecraft was outfitted to be "technically suitable for astronauts", Chinese space officials said. The spacecraft carried a set of instrument mannequins, relaying data that simulated the medical condition of the dummies and honed the skills of ground operators monitoring the craft as it circled Earth.

On landing, technicians gave the craft a clean bill of health.

Shenzhou 3's mission seems to have copied the trek of Shenzhou 2 that flew in January 2001. That vehicle also circled the Earth for about a week, whipping around the world 108 times before touching down in central Inner Mongolia, at a landing zone in northern China.

Shenzhou's maiden voyage was in November 1999.

As was the case of Shenzhou's second test flight, also left in space and carrying out its own maneuvers is an orbital module. On this mission, however, the maneuverable module totes a small satellite, likely to be ejected at a later time.

Noted China space watcher, Phillip Clark, who heads the Molniya Space Consultancy in the United Kingdom, said the flight of Shenzhou 3 may yield hints of what China's space planners are thinking.

Clark told SPACE.com that prior to the reentry module's landing, the craft was maneuvered in such a way as to suggest China is evaluating rendezvous and docking procedures. Shenzhou 3's path was purposely positioned to demonstrate, perhaps, ground readiness and timing skills to loft another Shenzhou craft. Sharpening this astronautical ability would give China the wherewithal to latch up spacecraft in Earth orbit.

Back-to-back liftoffs of Long March rockets topped by Shenzhou spacecraft may be in the offing, Clark said.

In the early years of the "space race" between the former Soviet Union and the United States, both nations demonstrated rapid-fire launchings of piloted spacecraft. The Soviet Union's Vostok program, as did America's Gemini project, demonstrated quick turnarounds of pads for serial launches.

As China gains more confidence in their human-carrying boosters, a quick succession of liftoffs is feasible, Clark said.

Another space practice scenario, Clark added, may involve the Shenzhou 4.

If lofted in the August-September time frame, Shenzhou 4 could be targeted to rendezvous with the Shenzhou 3 orbital module expected to still be circling Earth.

Clark said that China's first space crew is sure to chalk up an immediate first. While the Soviet Union and the U.S. first hurled single-seater spacecraft into orbit, China can launch multi-passengers on their first manned space outing.

"If Shenzhou 4 and 5 are successful, it's perfectly reasonable that about the third-quarter of next year, at the latest, we'll see a manned Shenzhou 6 mission," Clark said. "Shenzhou is a bit larger than a Soyuz. It is a multi-person spacecraft. Having at least two people up there on a first flight would be reasonable to expect," Clark said.

Furthermore, Clark added, future Chinese astronauts would sit inside a maneuverable spacecraft. "That's something that took the Russians and Americans several years to demonstrate. The Chinese will have that capability on the very first flight," he said.

China's space agenda is rapidly maturing, said Charles Vick, chief of the space policy division of the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.

Vick said the Shenzhou 4 unpiloted flight promises to be an "all systems up" flight test. That mission will involve final spacecraft design changes to be used in the first piloted mission. Similarly, the Shenzhou 5 also becomes a critical step to Shenzhou 6, China's first piloted mission, he said.

"How soon a double launch Earth orbit rendezvous mission will appear is too early to predict," Vick told SPACE.com.