Wen Wei Po reports today (25th) that the SZ-5 mission might be a single person flight. Unnamed Chinese space specialists speculate that since the objective of the mission is to launch an astronaut and safely return him to Earth, there may not be any science experiments on board. Thus there is no need to send more than one astronaut into space.
The report also says that the mission may be a single day flight. The launch may take place during daylight hours, around the timeframe of autumn. Presumably this is for better visual tracking and search and rescue in case of an emergency at launch.
The Chinese space officials told the newspaper that who would get to ride on SZ-5 would not be determined until the eve of the launch. The rumour that an astronaut by the name Chen Long would pilot the solo mission is not true.
There is still confusion as to how many astronauts are in training. Wen Wei Po reports 14 in this article. But some time last year, the newspaper reported that there were only 12. The other two were trainers. Presumably these were the persons who went to Star City to receive training with the Russians a few years ago.
