Astronauts aboard China’s Shenzhou VII spacecraft began assembling a spacesuit yesterday in preparation for the country’s first spacewalk, state media said.
The three astronauts unpacked the Chinese-made suit yesterday morning but the complete assembly would take about 15 hours, the Xinhua news agency said.
The agency also said the spacewalk was not expected until this afternoon after earlier reports that it would take place yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
CHANGE OF ORBIT
Shenzhou VII moved from an elliptical orbit into a circular orbit 343km above the Earth early yesterday in preparation for the spacewalk, and the craft had completed 11 orbits, as scheduled, from Thursday night to midday yesterday.
It was launched on a Long March-2F carrier rocket on Thursday night from the Jiuquan space center in northwestern China.
Astronaut Zhai Zhigang (翟志剛) was scheduled to make the spacewalk, spending about 40 minutes outside the spacecraft while he performs tasks such as retrieving a 3kg solid lubricant experiment from the rear of the Shenzhou VII.
SPACE SUIT
Zhai is to wear the 120kg, Chinese-made protective suit, which reportedly cost up to US$30 million, state media said.
The other two crew members are Liu Boming (劉伯明), who is to assist Zhai with exiting and re-entering the spacecraft, and Jing Haipeng (景海鵬).
Liu is to wear a Russian suit while he assists Zhai on the spacewalk, officials said.
Shenzhou VII is also to release a 40kg mini-satellite to monitor the orbital module and transmit video images.
“The task will test our ability to observe and control two satellites in relative motion,” Zhou Jianping (周建平), chief designer of the manned space program, told Xinhua at Jiuquan.
In 2003, the successful launch of the Shenzhou V mission made China the third country to complete a manned space mission after the former Soviet Union and the US.
Shenzhou VI carried two astronauts into space in 2005.
Shenzhou VII is the next stage in China’s ambitious plan to build an integrated ground-space network for space exploration and manned space research, including a permanent space laboratory by 2020.
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