Shenzhou-7 lift off

JIUQUAN, Gansu, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's third manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 blasted off from the northwestern Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Thursday, carrying three astronauts to attempt the country's first-ever space walk.

Three Chinese astronauts blasted off on the country's third human space voyage Thursday, beginning a mission that will include the Chinese space program's first spacewalk.

Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, all 42-year-old military pilots, crawled into the cramped Shenzhou 7 spacecraft during the final three hours of the countdown.

Shenzhou 7, mounted to the tip of a 191-foot-tall Long March 2F rocket, lifted off at 1310 GMT (9:10 a.m. EDT) from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China.

The blastoff marked the first piloted Chinese space mission to launch at night. China's two previous manned missions took flight during mid-morning.

The rocket shed its four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters about two-and-a-half minutes later. The first stage and a nose cone shielding the ship during the early launch sequence were jettisoned about three minutes after liftoff.

The second stage delivered Shenzhou 7 to a preliminary orbit less than 10 minutes into the mission. The capsule separated from the rocket a few moments later.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Shenzhou-7
• Shenzhou
• china
• space
• walk
• spacewalk
• Zhai
• Zhigang
• Liu
• Boming
• Jing
• Haipeng

[Finkletonian]

"The rocket is being tracked by all sorts of tracking systems"

No shit.

[jhrcronos]

Qué risa. No sé porque algunos aquí dicen que es falso. Acaso no han ido otras veces?? por qué iba a ser falso?? además, el cohete y la cpasula pueden verse desde la tierra , es imposible falsearlo.

[BigKwell]

@tfhenss Screw you!

Personally, the English announcers should've used the term 'taikonauts' to describe the Chinese pilots.

[tfhenss]

Fake, like their Wristwatches

[osallent]

As an American I would like to extend my congratulations to the Chinese for joining the Space Exploration club. We need all the effort from China if humanity is ever going to become a space faring species.

Any time a new nation achieves space flight, it should be celebrated with pride amongst the human race. Surely we can set politics aside here in the interest of science and exploration.

[osallent]

@gmlcks101 Chinese schools prefer American English...because the US is their primary customer. At any rate, they will never speak with an American or English accent, so it doesn't really matter.

The only difference between American English and British English (other than the funky accents) are some small grammatical things, and a few words here and there. Not a lot of difference whatsoever.

[FoosMasoos]

your telling me that the thrust of the rocket would not vibrate the ship?

Still fake though.

[nitronka]

When camera focuses into the cabin, their altitude is very high and there is no vibrations because of the thinner atmosphere.

[FoosMasoos]

Wow they used a model rocket for the lift-off.

Wow no vibration whatsoever inside the cabin.

fake.

[lendmeurears]

The female narrator is crap... seriously can't they get someone more intelligent?