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The country's next crewed spaceflight, Shenzhou 7, is slated to launch three astronauts spaceward and include at least one spacewalk as China moves forward with plans to build an orbital space station.

“All the equipment of the separate systems has been delivered to China’s space aviation center for assembly,” Qi Faren, chief designer of China’s first five Shenzhou spacecraft, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

Qi spoke at China’s Sixth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition held this week at the southern city of Zhuhai in the Guangdong province.  

Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut, also spoke at the air show, where he announced that he and the Shenzhou 6 spaceflyers—Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng—are in the running to fly the Shenzhou 7 mission, state media reported.

“Currently, we three—Fei, Nie and I—and some other astronauts are being trained for the third space mission,” Yang was quoted as saying by Xinhua.