China names its first spacewalker astronaut
September 17th, 2008 - 4:36 pm ICT by ANINew Delhi, September 17 (ANI): Zhai Zhigang has been named as Chinas first spacewalker astronaut, who will be part of the countrys third manned space mission, which will last from September 25-28.
The other astronauts, who will be on board the spacecraft Shenzhou VII, are Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.
The most likely takeoff time for Shenzhou VII is 9:10 pm on Sept 25, according to the website China.com.cn.
Upon the spaceships entry into orbit a scheduled 582 seconds after liftoff, Jing will remain in the descent module while Zhai and Liu will move to the vacuum orbital module.
Zhai is expected to conduct a 40-minute spacewalk between Sept 26 and Sept 27, with Liu as his substitute.
As part of the session, Zhai will retrieve an undisclosed amount of solid lubrication material placed beside the gate of the orbital module.
Before he does that, Liu will help him put on a special spacesuit that weighs in at about 120 kg and is worth 100 million Yuan.
According to Chen, despite worries of airsickness, the preferred schedule for Zhais spacewalk has been pushed forward to the end of his second day in space.
The international routine is to spacewalk during an astronauts third or fourth day in space. (ANI)
- China to broadcast spacewalk live - Sep 26, 2008
- Chinese astronauts preparing for return to earth - Sep 28, 2008
- Chinese astronauts test suit for spacewalk mission - Sep 26, 2008
- In a first, Chinese women enrol to become astronauts (Lead) - Sep 17, 2009
- China prepares for manned space docking this year - Mar 01, 2012
- China launches manned spacecraft on spacewalk mission (Lead) - Sep 25, 2008
- State honours for China's spacewalk astronauts - Nov 07, 2008
- Chinese astronauts return home after landmark spacewalk (Lead) - Sep 28, 2008
- Spacewalk to mark giant step for China - Sep 25, 2008
- China plans to launch unmanned space module next year - Mar 03, 2010
- Taikonaut Zhai completes China's first spacewalk (Second lead) - Sep 27, 2008
- China begins final countdown to spacewalk mission (Lead) - Sep 25, 2008
- China launches spacecraft on spacewalk mission - Sep 25, 2008
- Chinese female astronauts may catch flight - Mar 12, 2012
- Chinese taikonaut begins spacewalk (Lead) - Sep 27, 2008
Tags: 100 million, 120 kg, astronaut, astronauts, boming, china names, day in space, descent module, liftoff, liu, manned space mission, minute spacewalk, orbital module, preferred schedule, sept 27, september 17, spaceships, spacesuit, takeoff, yuan
