BEIJING (Reuters) - China's first manned space voyage is provisionally planned for October 15 and will be seen live on national television and by paying tourists at the desert launch site, state television and travel sources said on Wednesday.

But the most specific revelations so far about the top-secret launch date were dismissed by a mission spokesman as "hearsay," making it unclear whether business and media interests had finally blown Beijing's cover.

"The provisional plan is for October 15," said an official in charge of news programming with state giant CCTV, who declined to give his name.

"The relevant department announced that it would be launched in mid-October. We have plans to cover the launch of Shenzhou V live," he told Reuters, referring to the spacecraft. "But the exact time has not been fixed yet."

China is aiming to become the third country to send a man into space after the former Soviet Union and the United States. It has ballyhooed the mission as a matter of national pride but kept the date and most details of the launch under tight wraps.

The state-owned China Aviation International Travel Company, which is selling tour packages to watch the launch five miles from the rocket pad in the western province of Gansu, was gearing up for an early morning blast-off.

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