JIUQUAN, Oct. 12 -- A Chinese astronaut celebrated his birthday in orbit Thursday as the flight of his Shenzhou VI capsule entered its second day, setting a new record for the length of a Chinese space mission.

To many observers the really exciting thing about the launch of Shenzhou VI Wednesday is how it paves the way for the establishment of a Chinese space station in orbit.

"Ultimately what they are planning is a Chinese space station in about 2008 or so," said Brian Harvey, the Irish author of a book about China's space program. "To do that they will need to learn about how to survive on longer missions."

Once the Shenzhou VI crew is safely back on earth is when some analysts will start paying real attention. One of them is Philippe Coue, the French author of a book on China's astronauts, who points out the space station will be based on existing Shenzhou technology.

China is most likely to launch two Shenzhou craft in 2007 so there will be two orbiting modules in space at a time, making a docking operation possible.

"If the operations proceed well, there will be a docking operation, and then in late 2008 or early 2009, a space station," said Coue.

That will still just be a small space station, smaller even than the original spartan space lab.

"They will very likely take one of their orbital modules, which they are able to leave in orbit, and then send up another Shenzhou and dock with it," said Johnson-Freese. "It's pretty spartan, but it's certainly a technology advancement."