China set to conduct its first ever spacewalk
26 Sep 2008
China launched a 3-man crew into space that will perform the country's first spacewalk, either today or the day after. Performing a spacewalk is the sole mission for the crew.
The spacewalk may be of 40-minutes duration.
According to Chinese space officials, the spacewalk will take place, either on Friday or Saturday, depending on how well the astronauts adjust to weightlessness and other environmental conditions. They also said the spacewalk is intended to prepare China master the technology for docking two orbiters to create the country's first orbiting space station in 2020.
The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, was launched by a Long March 2F rocket, and will spend up to four days in orbit. The launch took place from western China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province.
Officials said it is part of Project 921, which is China's manned space programme.
Apart from manned missions, China has also recently put the Chang'e satellite in orbit around the moon and is planning to land a robotic rover on the lunar surface in 2010.
Meanwhile, a successful conclusion of the spacewalk will make China only the third country, after the United States and Russia, to conduct a spacewalk. According to Chinese media reports, the three Chinese astronauts will receive support from Russian experts throughout their mission.
All the astronauts are 42-year-old experienced fighter pilots and are led by Zhai Zhigang. Other members of the mission, include Jing Haipeng and Liu Boming. The crew will take samples from space, and launch a small satellite monitoring station as well.
A Russian cosmonaut, Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, now retired, became the first human to walk into space on 18 March 1965. A few months later, on 3 June, Ed White performed the first US spacewalk, during the Gemini-4 mission.
China's manned mission programme began in 2003, when Army Lieutenant, astronaut Yang Liwei, went into space to become the first Chinese astronaut.
