Chinese chalk up first spacewalk

Associated Press:
BEIJING -- China's space program celebrated its first-ever space walk Saturday, fueling ambitions to build a space station and push further into areas of exploration previously dominated by Russia and the United States.

Crowds gathered before outdoor television screens to watch the live broadcast of the event, seen as further stoking national pride one month after the close of the Beijing Olympics.

State television's coverage reflected much of the glory onto President and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, who was present at Thursday's launch and watched the spacewalk at Beijing's ground control center.

"Your success represents a new breakthrough in our manned space program," Hu told the astronauts in a scripted exchange that was also broadcast live.

"The motherland and the people thank you," said Hu, who chairs the powerful Communist Party and government military committees that oversee the space program.

The spacewalk was mainly aimed at testing China's mastery of the technology involved. Mission commander Zhai Zhigang's sole task was to retrieve a rack attached to the outside of the orbital module containing an experiment involving solid lubricants.

Tethered to handles attached to the Shenzhou 7 ship's orbital module, Zhai remained outside for about 13 minutes before climbing back inside.

"Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world," Zhai, facing an external camera, said as he floated halfway out of the open hatch.

Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.

While successful, the spacewalk wasn't without its anxious moments.

Zhai, a 41-year-old fighter pilot, appeared to struggle with the hatch and a fire alarm was triggered in the orbiter as he began the spacewalk.

Wang Zhaoyao, deputy director of manned space flight, conceded that the combined effects of weightlessness and depressurization on the hatch opening operation hadn't been fully anticipated. He blamed a faulty sensor for the fire alarm.

"There will be no impact on the rest of the mission," Wang said.

The spacewalk required astronauts to first depressurize and then repressurize the orbital module and proved the effectiveness of Zhai's Feitian space suit, produced by China at a cost of $4.4 million. Liu wore a nearly identical Russian-made Orlan suit, according to the reports.

Following the spacewalk, the astronauts released an 88-pound satellite to circle the orbiter and send images back to mission control.

The spacewalk paves the way for assembling a space station from two Shenzhou orbital modules, the next major goal of China's manned spaceflight program. China is also pursuing lunar exploration and may attempt to land a man on the moon in the next decade -- possibly ahead of NASA's 2020 target date for returning to the moon.

China launched its first manned mission, Shenzhou 5, in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the United States to launch a man into space. That was followed by a two-man mission in 2005.

Along with challenging Russia and the U.S., the spacewalk ups the ante in China's competition with other aspiring Asian space powers Japan and India. China's advances have spurred investment in their own programs, partly for bragging rights but also in search of economic benefits such as grabbing a bigger slice of the commercial satellite launching business.

In step with its growing list of achievements, the military-backed program has grown progressively less secretive and officials have hinted in recent days at a desire for greater cooperation with other nations. China plans to mass produce the next version of the Shenzhou ship to service a future space station and says it may make such missions available to other countries.

Space cooperation between China and other nations has so far been limited and the U.S. has refused Chinese involvement in the international space station for fear it could gain technical secrets applicable to its arms industry.

A Chinese space program official said earlier that Russian technicians would assist in Saturday's spacewalk, but it wasn't clear what role they played.

Since blasting off from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China, the astronauts had been largely occupied with preparing the suits and adapting to zero gravity. Cameras inside the re-entry vehicle have shown them working off of checklists and napping, while meals aboard the craft have followed a typical Chinese menu featuring versions of kung pao chicken, shrimp and dried fruit, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

NOTE ON IMAGES: Click to enlarge the Associated Press photos and video grabs. In the video video grabs taken at the Beijing Space Command and Control Center released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang walks outside the orbit module of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft for a spacewalk. Then click the enlarged image to get an even bigger picture. Photo credit: AP Photo/Xinhua. The photographs show Chinese watching live TV coverage of the nation's first spacewalk on a screen in Beijing. A Chinese astronaut on Saturday performed the nation's first-ever spacewalk. Photo credit: AP Photo/Greg Baker.