China's third manned mission to include spacewalk

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - China this week launches its most ambitious space

mission yet, a sign of rising confidence as Beijing cements its

status as a space power and potential future competitor to the

United States.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, to launch as early as Thursday, will 

be the first to carry a full complement of three astronauts, one 

of whom will perform China's first space walk, or EVA for

"extra-vehicular activity." It is China's third manned mission.

The maneuver will help China master docking techniques

needed for the construction of a space station, likely to be

achieved initially by joining one Shenzhou orbiter to another.

The mission launches from the Jiuquan launch site in

northwestern China. The lead astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, is

expected to carry out the 40-minute spacewalk, which China

will broadcast live.

"Shenzhou 7 is an incremental but important step forward,"

said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space

program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island.

Riding a wave of pride and patriotism after hosting the 

Olympics, China's communist leaders face few of the public

doubts or budgetary pressures constraining such programs

elsewhere. That has allowed them to fuse political will and 

scientific gusto in a step-by-step process that could one day 

see Chinese astronauts landing on the moon.

Chinese space programs are methodically moving forward in

a "very deliberate, graduated" manner, said Charles Vick, a

space analyst for the Washington think tank

GlobalSecurity.org. Beijing is accumulating the building blocks

of a comprehensive program, demonstrating "caution but

confidence" as it gains on the U.S. and other space powers,

he said.

Future goals are believed to include an unmanned moon

landing around 2012, a mission to return samples in 2015,

and possibly a manned lunar mission by 2017 -- three years

ahead of the U.S. target date for returning to the moon.

A manned lunar program, although yet to be formally

approved, is "certainly the ultimate goal," Johnson-Freese

said.

First, Chinese scientists need to put the final touches on the

new generation Long March 5 rocket capable of launching

25-ton components for a space station or future lunar

missions.

Once that happens, Johnson-Freese said she expects

further progress to come rapidly.

"When the new vehicle is ready, China wants to be ready

too," she said. Shenzhou craft are currently flung into space

by a Long March 2F rocket, the workhorse of the Chinese

fleet, with 66 consecutive successful launches.

The first manned Shenzhou mission in 2003 saw China join

the United States and former Soviet Union as the only nations

capable of launching astronauts into space.

From the start, China has focused squarely on high-payoff

areas where it can match or exceed the achievements of

others. That garners new capabilities while maximizing the

political impact, something observers sometimes call

"techno-nationalism."

All along, China has relied heavily on homegrown technology,

partly out of necessity. China has trouble obtaining such

technology abroad due to U.S. and European bans and is not

a participant in the International Space Station.

The Shenzhou ships closely resemble Russia's three-module

Soyuz capsule, but have been completely re-engineered and

enlarged. China's team of 14 astronauts, sometimes called

"taikonauts" from the Chinese word for outer space, are

trained at Chinese facilities.

Veteran chief designer Qi Faren says China's systems, while

basic, have been carefully designed for safety and reliability.

"What we're proud of is that, although we're not the best, it's

our own and its very Chinese," Qi, 75, said in an interview

published in Monday's Beijing News.

轉貼自︰

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space;_ylt=AuwQFX.mQa0.K9Z_HTv7nMAiANEA 

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根據AP在09/24報導

俄國技術人員將支援中國的第一次太空漫步任務