Chinese astronauts are making final preparations for their
country's first spacewalk Saturday.
China's third manned mission to space, Shenzhou 7, launched
Thursday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's Gansu province.
Zhai Zhigang, the lead Chinese astronaut, or taikonaut, for
the mission, is expected to become his nation's first spacewalker. He is slated
to exit the spacecraft at 4:30 a.m. ET (0830 GMT) to conduct a 20-minute excursion
into space. He will be assisted from inside the capsule by his crewmates, Liu
Boming and Jing Haipeng.
"The Shenzhou 7 mission marks a historic breakthrough
in China's manned space program. It is a great honor for all three of us to fly
the mission, and we are fully prepared for the challenge," Zhai said at a
press conference before launch, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua
reported.
After donning his spacesuit and depressurizing the orbital
module of the Shenzhou
7 spacecraft, Zhai is scheduled to exit the hatch and use handrails outside
the craft to move around.
"Head first and feet later," Wu Bin, an expert in
charge of astronaut training with the China Astronaut Research and Training
Center, told Xinhua. "The astronaut is expected to greet to a
camera on the spaceship surface as soon as his head and hands are out," Wu
said.
Once outside the vehicle, Zhai, a 42-year-old
fighter pilot, plans to collect a test sample of solid lubricant from the
surface of the spacecraft that was placed there before the launch. Then the
spacecraft will release an 88-pound (40-kilogram) satellite which will circle
the ship and send back images to mission control.
A major test during the activity will be whether the new,
Chinese-built spacesuit Zhai wears will work as designed. The suit (called
"Feitian," meaning "fly the sky" in Chinese) reportedly
cost 30 million yuan (about $4.4 million), and must protect Zhai from the harsh
temperatures and radiation of space.
"If you had something going wrong during the spacewalk,
I think that would come across as a very significant loss of prestige and
face," said Dean Cheng, China analyst with Alexandria, Va.-based think
tank CNA Corp. "Particularly if the Chinese-made spacesuits weren't
suitable for space."
The Feitian suit has 10 layers, weighs about 265 pounds (120
kg), and takes up to 15 hours to assemble and put on, Xinhua reported.
Within the suit's pressurized, temperature-controlled
environment, Zhai should be able to move about in space while tethered to the
vehicle through an electric cable.
While Zhai is conducting his activities outside, Liu Boming
will help out from inside the de-pressurized orbital module, while wearing a
Russian-built Orlan spacesuit. Russian experts will also be advising the
mission from the ground along with Chinese space officials, the Associated
Press reported.
The third astronaut, Jing Haipeng, will stay inside the
re-entry module of the spacecraft, which is set to carry all three taikonauts
back to Earth. After a 68-hour voyage into space, Shenzhou 7 is scheduled to
land in Inner Mongolia on Sunday.
Conducting a successful spacewalk would demonstrate a crucial
ability for China's space program, which hopes to eventually build a space
station and possibly land on the moon. To do either requires being able to
rendezvous and dock two vehicles in space, and for astronauts to maneuver
outside the confines of a ship.
"This is going to be china's first EVA [extravehicular
activity, or spacewalk]," Cheng told SPACE.com before launch. "They've
been trumpeting this. A whole lot of technology and equipment are all bound up
in this mission."
China plans
to broadcast tomorrow's spacewalk live as it happens.
"Broadcasting live is huge step forward in recognizing the
need for transparency as well as their confidence," said Joan
Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the Naval War College
in Newport, R. I.
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