China plans to launch Shenzhou VII spacecraft, its third manned
spaceship, with three taikonauts aboard next October, according to
Pang Zhihao, a researcher with the China Academy of Space
Technology.
"The taikonauts will walk in space for the first time and each
move will be live broadcasted," the Oriental Morning Post
quoted Pang as saying today.
"They will be attached to the capsule with a belt when walking
in the space, which will be safer and the belt can transfer
communication signals and oxygen," Pang said.
The taikonauts can walk as far as five meters using a belt, Pang
said.
China's first taikonaut Yang Liwei said in an earlier report
that the astronauts will perform work outside the capsule such as
installing equipment and "tightening screws."
China launched its first unmanned experimental spacecraft in
November 1999 and the Shenzhou V spacecraft, with China's first
taikonaut Yang aboard, was launched on October 15, 2003. China
became the third country in the world to send a man into space.
The Shenzhou VI spacecraft completed a five-day
flight with two taikonauts on board from October 12-17, 2005, the
first occasion on which China put two taikonauts into space.
(Shanghai Daily November 20, 2007)