China´s maiden spacewalk may take about 20 minutes

Source: Xinhua | 09-26-2008 16:58

Special Report:   Tech Max
Special Report:   Shenzhou-7 Manned Space Flight

BEIJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- China will broadcast live the nation's maiden spacewalk slated for 04:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Wang Zhaoyao, spokesperson with the manned space program. The spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), will last about 30minutes, 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.

The video grab taken on Sept. 26, 2008 at the Beijing Space Command and Control Center in Beijing, China, shows Chinese astronaut Liu Boming unpacking and assembling the indigenous Feitian extra-vehicular activity (EVA) suit in Shenzhou-7.  Astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, China's third manned spaceship, began to assemble the suit and test its obturation and functions at 10:20 a.m. Friday in preparation for the first spacewalk.  (Xinhua photo)

One of the three taikonauts aboard the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, will conduct the spacewalk. Wang said the duration might be adjusted according to the physical conditions of the taikonauts. 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.

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Editor:Yang Jie