New Delhi, Oct.19 :  Chinese taikonauts (astronauts) may start a branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in space, said the country's first taikonaut Yang Liwei.

China now has a 14-strong astronaut team. The team members, including Yang himself, are all CPC members.

"If China has its own space station, the taikonauts on mission will carry out the regular activities of a CPC branch in space in the way we do on earth, such as learning the Party's policies and exchanging opinions on the Party's decisions," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Yang, a delegate to the on-going CPC national congress in Beijing, as saying.

According to the CPC Constitution, a grass-root CPC organization should be established where there are three or more CPC members. The latest official figure shows that China has more than 73 million CPC members and about 3.6 million grass-roots CPC organizations.

China successfully sent Yang into orbit on the Shenzhou V spacecraft in 2003, and two years later, taikonauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng completed a five-day flight on the Shenzhou VI.

Earlier media reports say the Shenzhou VII is expected to carry three taikonauts in 2008 and the taikonauts may perform their first spacewalk during the flight.

Chinese taikonauts will participate in international operations like peace-keeping, environment protection and rescue in space, Yang said.

Yang's center has been working with the Aerospace School of the Beijing-based Tsinghua University since 2006 to provide masters-level degree training for the taikonauts. (ANI)