The China News Service, a news organization that is partially government supported, reported Sunday that the Chinese space program is preparing for a second test. Chinese officials said a pilotless module circled Earth for 21 hours and landed safely in a field last November.

The Hong Kong daily newspaper Mingpao reported similar news about an October date earlier this summer.

"According to sources, China is now busy preparing for the launch of the second unmanned spacecraft, including conducting more technical tests and verification of data," the China News Service reported. "It is expected that the launch will be some time before or after October."

The selection of an October launch is a symbolic move. China marks its day of independence -- called National Day -- on October 10 and Beijing has often used that day as a showcase for the nation's latest triumphs or for a show of might.

China has already selected its first batch of astronauts, the China News Service report said. Quoting a source at China's Institute of Carrier Rocket Technology, the news service said that the taikonauts were "waiting for the order to go into space."

The China News Service report, though, seemed to dampen enthusiasm for a piloted spaceflight in the near future. It noted that the Russian and American space programs needed several attempts at pilotless flights before successfully launching humans into orbit.

The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper, translated the news service's reports on Monday. If the spacecraft were launched in October, the liftoff would come less than a year after China's first test launch.

In November, China launched its Shenzhou spacecraft on a mission that closely resembled a piloted flight. The craft orbited earth 14 times before landing in Mongolia.