Beijing - Astronauts aboard China's Shenzhou VII spacecraft began assembling a spacesuit Friday in preparation for the country's first spacewalk, state media said.

The three astronauts unpacked the Chinese-made suit Friday morning but the complete assembly would take about 15 hours, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The agency also said the spacewalk was not expected until Saturday afternoon after earlier reports that it would take place Friday.

Shenzhou VII moved from an elliptical orbit into a circular orbit 343 kilometres above the Earth early Friday in preparation for the spacewalk, and the craft had completed 
11 orbits, as scheduled, from Thursday night to midday Friday.

It was launched on a Long March-2F carrier rocket Thursday night from the Jiuquan space centre in north-western China.

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang was slated to make the spacewalk, spending about 40 minutes outside the spacecraft while he performs tasks such as retrieving a 3-kilogramme solid lubricant experiment from the rear of the Shenzhou VII.

Zhai is to wear the 120-kilogram, Chinese-made protective suit, which reportedly cost up to 30 million dollars, state media said.

The other two crew members are Liu Boming, who is to assist Zhai with exiting and re-entering the spacecraft, and Jing Haiping.

Liu is to wear a Russian suit while he assists Zhai on the spacewalk, officials said.

Shenzhou VII is also to release a 40-kilogram mini-satellite to monitor the orbital module and transmit video images.

"The task will test our ability to observe and control two satellites in relative motion," Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space programme, told Xinhua at Jiuquan.

In 2003, the successful Shenzhou V mission made China the third country to launch a manned space mission after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Shenzhou VI carried two astronauts into space in 2005.

Shenzhou VII is the next stage of China's plan to build an integrated ground-space network for space exploration and manned space research, including a permanent space laboratory by 2020. (dpa)