posted 09-15-2008 10:45 PM               

Chinese media reported recently that Zhai Zhigang is expected to conduct the spacewalk during the flight. Liu Boming will be the first substitute for the spacewalk.

Zhai Zhigang, 42, is from northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province. He joined the Chinese air force in 1985.

From left to right: Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.

posted 09-23-2008 12:36 AM            

A total of 6,000 staff on the ground team had spent months improving infrastructure and testing the functions of computers and software, said Cui Jijun, commander-in-chief of the ground operation team.

posted 09-23-2008 08:23 AM               

It may be that the brownish "box" at the front of the spacecraft is the satellite in question, but this still represents a faithful rendition I think.

posted 09-25-2008 08:20 AM               

China's manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 blasts off on space walk mission

China launched its third manned spacecraft on Thursday with three astronauts on board to attempt the country's first-ever space walk.

The spaceship Shenzhou-7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 p.m. after a breathtaking countdown to another milestone on China's space journey.

Onboard pilots Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are expected to orbit the earth for 4 days, when one of them will float out of the cabin about 343 kilometers above the Earth.

posted 09-25-2008 08:08 PM               

Nutritionists and cooks have prepared 80 foods, from Kung Pao Chicken and deshelled shrimp to frozen dry fruits, for the trio of Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, according to Chen Bin, who is in charge of food supply to the astronauts.

For vinegar-loving Jing, the seasoning is well at hand, as various seasoning sauces are provided on board. The astronaut is from northern Shanxi Province, where vinegar is a favorite condiment for locals.

The food heater on board has a stronger electricity supply than that on Shenzhou-6 as it is connected to the main power supply, which will make sure their rice can be fully cooked, Chen said.

The foods are kept in retort pouches. "We have tried to make them taste like stir-fried dishes they have on the earth," Chen said.[/i]

No toilet was on board of the previous two manned spaceships. The men had to wear diapers.

But this time a toilet is set up. The toilet seat is tailor-made to astronauts' figure and it also includes a separate urinal.

posted 09-26-2008 09:40 AM               

China will broadcast live the nation's maiden spacewalk, according to Wang Zhaoyao, spokesperson with the manned space program.

The spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), will last about 30 minutes, he said at a press conference here Friday. Excluding the opening and the closing of the module gate, the real spacewalk may take about 20 minutes, he said.

According to the schedule, the taikonauts would finish testing the space suits at 1:00 a.m. Saturday when the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft has made 19 orbits around the earth, he said.

Then they would begin a 100-minute training in the orbital module before the EVA, he said.

posted 09-27-2008 04:35 AM               

Chinese taikonaut greets nation, world in first spacewalk

Chinese Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang completed a spacewalk Saturday afternoon, marking a historic breakthrough in the country's ambitious space program, which will eventually lead to the establishment of a permanent space station.

Donning a 4-million-U.S.dollar homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 in a head-out-first position at around 4:43 p.m. (0843 GMT).

He waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule, video monitors at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) showed.

"Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world," the taikonaut reported to the ground control in Beijing.

Minutes after Zhai was outside the capsule, teammate Liu Bomingalso emerged briefly and handed Zhai a Chinese national flag that Zhai waved in the outer space against the backdrop of the blue planet Earth. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.

Video monitors at the ground control showed Zhai then slowly leaned towards a test sample of solid lubricant placed outside the orbital module. He took the sample and handed it over to Liu.

Solid lubricant is widely used in spacecraft. The test sample carried by Shenzhou-7 included 11 types of solid lubricants. Chinese scientists said they hoped to improve the property and lifetime of the materials by studying the samples.

posted 09-27-2008 11:44 AM               

China's third manned spaceship Shenzhou-7 launched a small monitoring satellite about two hours after an astronaut accomplished the country's first spacewalk Saturday afternoon.

The satellite, less than 40 kilograms in weight, will orbit the orbital module and send back the spaceship's first full video images.

It is equipped with two cameras that can capture clear images in a distance between four meters and two km, according to Shen Xuemin, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, developer of the satellite.

The accompanying satellite will observe and assist the main spaceship and work for communication, scientific experiment, earth and astronomy observation, he said.

posted 09-28-2008 06:14 AM               

China's third manned spacecraft returns after landmark spacewalk

The Shenzhou-7 space module carrying three taikonauts landed safely by parachute Sunday afternoon (5:38 a.m. EDT, March 28, 2008) in China's northern grassland, after a landmark spacewalk mission that leads the country further in its space exploration.

Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng came back from a 68-hour flight, which included a 20-minute spacewalk on Saturday.

"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges but the result is perfect. I'm proud of my country," said Zhai Zhigang, sitting on a chair after emerging from the module.

The space capsule was suspended down by a 1,000-square-meter parachute and landed on its flank at Siziwang Banner in central Inner Mongolia, where 300 search and rescue staff waited.

posted 09-30-2008 10:03 AM               

Chinese astronauts back to Beijing

Cheering crowds, including wives and children of the three Chinese taikonauts, greeted here Monday morning the brave trio who fulfilled China's third manned space mission and returned to their training camp in Beijing's suburbs.

After a brief physical checkup upon the Shenzhou-7's safe landing Saturday afternoon on north China's grassland, Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng were transferred back to the space program headquarters, or space town.

The spacemen were also greeted by their wives and children. At a military airport in Beijing, the wives, all tearful but joyful, accompanied the husbands to a limousine which carried them back to the headquarters.

This was the only brief re-union of the couples before the three astronauts undergo a two-week preventive quarantine in the space town medical facilities.

A new fad on space exploration is swirling Inner Mongolia where an area is reserved for landing of Chinese spaceships. Local people are very interested in buying books on space knowledge.

posted 10-05-2008 09:58 PM               

Rare herbal plants aboard Shenzhou-7 spacecraft studied

Several rare herbal plants aboard the recent Shenzhou-7 space mission have now been transferred to a Chinese nanobiotechnology lab for study.

The plants, including rauwolfia and salvia miltiorrhiza (also known as red sage), were used to produce nanomedicines to treat cancerous tumors, Professor Zhang Yangde with China's Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology at the Central South University told the Changsha Daily newspaper in Hunnan Province on Thursday.

Accompanying satellite begins orbiting Shenzhou-7 spaceship on Sunday

Chinese scientists on Sunday successfully directed the accompanying satellite BX-1 to begin circling the Shenzhou-7 spaceship, on an elliptical track of 4 kilometers multiplying 8 kilometers.

It is the first time that China has succeeded in maneuvering this kind of space orbiting, official sources say.

The accompanying satellite began orbiting the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-7 at 18:14 pm, under the close monitoring and precise control of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The BX-1 rode the Shenzhou-7 into the space on September 25 and it was launched by the spacecraft two days later. Since September 30, the control center changed its track six times to draw it closer to the space vehicle step by step, and finally it succeeded in orbiting the capsule.

Over the past days, the monitoring satellite has shot over 1,000 pictures of the spaceship from different angles. All the pictures are clear and complete, said an official with the space program.

The photos were condensed and stored after they were taken by the cameras installed on the satellite. The BX-1 shot its first photo six seconds after being released.

In one of the pictures published by the official, the spacecraft was flying like an eagle with the Earth as its background.