China boldly goes where just a few have gone before

China has recently launched the third manned space mission and this would mean the country’s first spacewalk.

The Shenzhou VII capsule went into orbit atop a Long-March II-F rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport in Gansu,a province in the northwest of China.
This will be a 70-hour flight and it will include a spacewalk undertaken by 42-year-old fighter pilot Zhai Zhigang.
Mr Zhai is not alone there, he is joined on his mission by another two “yuhangyuan” (astronauts) - Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.
“You will definitely accomplish this glorious and sacred mission. The motherland and the people are looking forward to your triumphant return,” (President Hu told the astronauts, who were dressed in flight suits and behind glass to avoid being exposed to germs).
China is now the third nation after the United States and Russia to independently put a man in space when Yang Liwei, another fighter pilot, went into orbit on the Shenzhou V mission in October 2003.

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