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China completes third manned spaceflight, first spacewalk |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 02 October 2008
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 This week China successfully launched the nation’s third manned spaceflight, a three astronaut orbital trip that included the nation’s first spacewalk. The Shenzhou 7 craft launched on Thursday, September 23rd the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Chinese province of Gansu. The crew rode the 62 meter (200 ft) tall Long March 2F into orbit, five years after China’s first manned flight. Shenzhou 7 was crewed by Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng; all three are 42-year-old Chinese fighter pilots.
The nation’s first spacewalk was completed on Saturday by Zhai. He wore China’s new Feitian spacesuit, which cost $4.4 million and is designed to provide the occupant with a pressurized atmosphere along with the expected oxygen, temperature control, and communications links to the craft. The thirteen-minute spacewalk involved Zhai exiting the craft, retrieving an experiment rack mounted on the outside of the spacecraft (testing solid lubricants and their exposure to a vacuum).
The entire spacewalk was broadcast live by the Chinese space agency and shown on giant screens around Beijing. The crowds assembled to watch cheered loudly when Zhai waved a small Chinese flag for the camera. He said, “Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world.”
The spacewalk was a test of China’s technological prowess, and was not without fault. Zhai struggled to open the hatch and as he exited, a fire alarm went off in the depressurized craft. Because the capsule was completely depressurized, there was no way for something to burn, so Chinese space program administrators blamed the alarm sounding on the unexpected effects of depressurization. While Zhai was testing out the Feitian spacesuit, Liu and Jing stayed in the capsule wearing similar Russian-built Orlan suits. After the spacewalk was complete, the crew released a small 40 kg (88 lb) satellite that circled the capsule and sent images back to mission control. Chinese President Hu Jintao then called the crew from mission control to congratulate them on a successful mission.
The crew returned to Earth in the Shenzhou 7’s reentry capsule on Sunday with a parachute landing on the grass plains of Inner Mongolia. Like the spacewalk, the landing was broadcast live to all of China. After being checked out at a local hospital, the crew was flown to Beijing for a massive parade through the Chinese capital.
The Shenzhou 7 is based on Russia’s Soyuz capsule, though heavily modified by Chinese engineers. China has admitted that Russian engineers and mission control specialists have been helping the fledgling manned spaceflight program get on its feet.
China has plans to build and orbital space station and to land taikonauts on the moon.
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