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.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
ON THE LAM: The Brazilian Supreme Court said that the former president tried to burn his ankle monitor off as part of an attempt to orchestrate his escape from Brazil Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody on Saturday after the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor to flee. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out. In a video made
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
RSS