BEIJING (AP) - China's space program is
considering a live broadcast of the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut,
reflecting growing confidence in the program's capabilities, state media
reported Friday.
The first spacewalk is
scheduled to take place after the Beijing Summer Olympics in August during the
country's third
manned mission.
Yuan Jie, president of
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, was quoted by the official Xinhua
News Agency as saying a live broadcast was being considered but no decision
had been made.
"The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft
is capable of live broadcasting the walk, but it has not been decided if the
spacewalk will be broadcast in a live or recorded version,'" Xinhua
quoted Yuan as saying.
China's space program is the focus of
immense national pride, and officials have announced ever more ambitious plans
to explore the moon and build a space station since the program first
put a man into orbit in 2003.
China sent an unmanned space
ship to orbit the moon last year, the first step in a three-stage lunar
exploration project. A manned lunar voyage is planned for sometime after 2017.
While live images of
previous missions have been beamed to schools and viewers across China, broadcasts are usually pre-taped to guard against mishaps.
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