China astronauts unpack $4 million suit for spacewalk

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China's spacewalk. Photo: EFE

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• The real Chinese challenge

China's manned space mission successfully reached its final orbit early on Friday (September 26) morning. The three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou VII craft will now prepare for the nation's first attempt at a spacewalk.

One astronaut will leave the craft and make China's first "footprint in space" on Saturday (September 27) as the craft orbits 343 kilometres (213 miles)above the earth.

Pictures of the three astronauts on board changing into more flexible clothing and moving around the craft were broadcast on state television throughout the night.

The first external pictures were also shown and early on Friday morning all three astronauts were required to return to the cockpit seats and wear their original space suits as the craft shifted orbit. It is now circling the earth every 90 minutes.

The spacewalk mission is designed to showcase China's ethnological prowess and add more laurels to China's crown after the success of its Beijing Olympics.

However senior engineers have warned that the spacewalk will be one of the most challenging parts of the mission.

The allocated walk time may change depending on the astronaut's reaction to the unfamiliar atmosphere in space.

He will venture outside in a Chinese-designed space suit, named after a flying Buddhist goddess and with a price tag of 30 million yuan ($4.40 million U.S. dollar), the official Xinhua agency said.

A colleague will wait in the module in a Russian suit for backup. The men are set to test the suits on Friday, according to Xinhua.

The astronauts aboard the Shenzhou VII mission are reported to be enjoying a specially prepared menu and the convenience of an onboard toilet. This is a luxury compared to the previous two manned Chinese space missions where the astronauts had to wear diapers, said Xinhua.

With a name meaning "sacred vessel", the Shenzhou programme is secretively run through military and government agencies and its budget is unclear. In 2003, officials said it had cost 18 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) up to then.