The highlight of the mission, which will last only three days, is China's first spacewalk
Russian technicians will assist the Chinese in their first ever spacewalk planned for next week. Today, Thursday afternoon (16:07 p.m. Israel time), the launch of the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft with three taikonauts is expected to take place in Jiuquan in the Gansu region.
Two of the three will perform a maneuver wearing special spacesuits of a model built in Russia for spacewalks. The two were assisted in their training and will continue to be assisted during the mission by Russian space experts.
The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft flight is scheduled to last three days and is considered the most ambitious mission since the launch of the first Chinese manned spacecraft into space in 2003. During the mission, the technauts will try to test the technology developed in China, to dock two spaceships, for the purpose of preparing for the construction of a Chinese space station in the future. The Chinese say that their space program, which is backed by the military, relies mainly on local knowledge and technology and cooperation with Russia is relatively limited.
As mentioned, the launch window will open tomorrow at nine past seven in the evening local time (16:07 Israel time, and will last one hour and twenty minutes. The spacewalk is planned for the second day of the mission, Friday if everything goes well, and it will last only forty minutes.
