China's Shenzhou VII manned spaceship is scheduled to lift off
this year as the country's outer space expedition projects have
gained momentum in recent years.
According to Xinhuanet.com, an online portal run by the Xinhua
News Agency, Chinese astronauts will conduct their first ever
spacewalk during the mission.
Fourteen reserved astronauts, including the first Chinese
spaceman Yang Liwei, who carried out the Shenzhou V mission in 2003 and Fei Junlong and
Nie Haisheng, Shenzhou VI flight crew in 2005, are in the
crew selection for the VII mission.
The Shenzhou VII space shuttle is undergoing comprehensive tests
at present, the report unveiled, and the carrier rocket for the
mission, a Long March IIF rocket, is in the final assembly.
China has achieved astounding feats in its space exploration in
recent years. After successfully completing manned space flights in
2003 and 2005, the country launched its first ever lunar probe
satellite, Chang'e I, in October 2007, which is expected
to orbit the moon for a year conducting a series of
experiments.
(CRI January 2, 2008)