Mission Included Nation's First Spacewalk

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 09.28.08 1000 MDT: The three taikonauts comprising the Shenzhou VII orbital mission have returned safely to Earth, according to Chinese media.

Citing reports from China's official Xinhua news agency, CNN reports the three men each took a few small steps outside their re-entry module to waiting chairs, where doctors examined them in view of a national television audience.

"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges with a successful end," astronaut Zhai Zhigang said after emerging from the capsule 45 minutes after touchdown. "We feel proud of the motherland."

Zhai made history Saturday when he became China's first-ever spacewalker, a largely symbolic gesture intended to give further credibility to China's upstart space program. The Communist state intends its space program to eventually rival those of the United States and Russia.

To that end, China's next mission into space will reportedly encompass the assembly of a rudimentary space station, comprised of two Shenzhou orbital modules.

Coverage of the 68-hour mission dominated Chinese news coverage over the weekend, with headlines about Zhai's spacewalk bumping coverage of a contaminated milk crisis... that has resulted in the deaths of at least four infants after drinking milk laced with melanine, a chemical used to artificially boost measured levels of protein.

In a curiously-worded "editorial" on Sunday, Xinhua columnist Chang Ai-ling noted that "[w]hile tainted milk has cast the brand of China-made into international humiliation, another China-made, Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, brought pride and glory to the country's 1.3 billion population." ( Read it here.)

Though it's true the Shenzhou capsule was assembled in China, its engineering is Russian... as it is based largely on the successful Soyuz spacecraft.

Original Report

0001 EDT: A Chinese colonel and taikonaut took some big steps Saturday towards establishing his country's presence in space. Zhai Zhigang, commander of the Shenzhou VII orbital mission, stepped out of his Russian-inspired spacecraft at 1643 Beijing time (0443 EDT) and floated alongside the capsule for about 15 minutes.

"I feel well," said Zhai, reports Agence-France Presse. "I am greeting the Chinese people and the people of the world."

The spacewalk was broadcast live throughout China on state-run television to a massive audience, including President Hu Jintao... who hailed Zhai's extravehicular activity as a "major breakthrough" for the country's space program.

"Your spacewalk was a complete success. It's a major breakthrough in the development of our manned space program," Hu told the spacefarer via radio from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center. "The motherland and the people thank you."

The timing of the spacewalk was not without significance, as well. In addition to its coming just before the 59th anniversary of the founding of the modern Communist
state, the mission also comes ahead of the 50th anniversary of the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Both milestones occur on October 1.

While Zhai's spacewalk was largely symbolic in nature -- complete with the waving of a small Chinese flag -- it also carried a modicum of scientific importance. As part of his tasks, Zhai collected a sample of solid lubricant from outside the Soyuz-based Shenzhou spacecraft, and passed it off to one of his two fellow crewmembers inside the capsule.

The spacewalk also carried with it some drama. A few minutes into the televised EVA, audiences around the country heard what a fire alarm onboard the capsule sounds like... but fortunately for the crew, it was only a sensor glitch.

"To be frank, at that very moment, many of us felt a little bit concerned," said Wang Zhaoyao, spokesman for China's manned space program.

Launched in the early hours of Friday morning, the 68-hour Shenzhou VII mission is due to come to an end Sunday afternoon, Beijing time, with touchdown on the steppes of northern Inner Mongolia.

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html