Explode Into Space
China Completes its First Spacewalk
Techtree News Staff, Sep 27, 2008 1724 hrs IST
"I have been out of the hatch, I'm feeling good," said Zhai Zhigang as he completed a 20 minute spacewalk
China has just completed its first ever spacewalk, making it one of the few countries to have stepped out of a space capsule and into the cold nothingness of space.
Earlier this week, China had succeesfully launched its three-man crew sitting inside the Shenzhou VII spacecraft using the Long March 2F rocket. The spacewalk, which was initially planned to be as long as 40 minutes, took all of 20 minutes and lasted between 08.35 GMT and 08.58 GMT. Zhai Zhigang, the lead taikonaut, spent these 20 minutes fetching a sample of solid lubricant which was placed outside of the craft before its launch.
He was wearing the Chinese-made Feitian ("fly the sky") suit which reportedly cost 30 million yuan. The suit has 10 layers of insulation, weighs 120 kg, and takes up to 15 hours to assemble and put on... Kinda like Iron Man's costume without the cool bits.
"I have been out of the hatch, I'm feeling good," Zhai said according to the Chinese national TV translator, "To all the people in my country and the world, my greetings. My country, please have faith in me. My team will finish this mission." There was some flag-waving afterwards.
China plans to build a spacelab in the future; their plans for space also include putting a Chinese on the moon, and a mission to Mars.
There are some wonderful photos, that I will be posting soon!
"I have been out of the hatch, I'm feeling good," said Zhai Zhigang as he completed a 20 minute spacewalk
China has just completed its first ever spacewalk, making it one of the few countries to have stepped out of a space capsule and into the cold nothingness of space.
Earlier this week, China had succeesfully launched its three-man crew sitting inside the Shenzhou VII spacecraft using the Long March 2F rocket. The spacewalk, which was initially planned to be as long as 40 minutes, took all of 20 minutes and lasted between 08.35 GMT and 08.58 GMT. Zhai Zhigang, the lead taikonaut, spent these 20 minutes fetching a sample of solid lubricant which was placed outside of the craft before its launch.
He was wearing the Chinese-made Feitian ("fly the sky") suit which reportedly cost 30 million yuan. The suit has 10 layers of insulation, weighs 120 kg, and takes up to 15 hours to assemble and put on... Kinda like Iron Man's costume without the cool bits.
"I have been out of the hatch, I'm feeling good," Zhai said according to the Chinese national TV translator, "To all the people in my country and the world, my greetings. My country, please have faith in me. My team will finish this mission." There was some flag-waving afterwards.
China plans to build a spacelab in the future; their plans for space also include putting a Chinese on the moon, and a mission to Mars.
There are some wonderful photos, that I will be posting soon!
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