Chinese Astronaut Makes Nation’s First Spacewalk

BEIJING — A Chinese astronaut orbiting the earth slipped out of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft Saturday afternoon and performed the nation's first spacewalk, establishing another milestone in China's space program.

Zhai Zhigang, a 41-year-old Chinese astronaut who is traveling with two others in space, pulled himself out of the orbiting module at 4:40 p.m. Beijing time, latched himself to a handrail and then waved to a national audience during a live broadcast of the country's third manned space mission.

"I am here greeting the Chinese people and the people of the world," Mr. Zhai said, waving to a camera attached to the module.

The feat was another big step in this country's effort to establish a space station by 2020 and eventually to land on the moon. Only two other countries, Russia and the United States, have launched men into space.

For Chinese government, which is devoting extensive media coverage to its manned space missions, the achievement is also another step toward establishing the country as an economic and technological super power.

President Hu Jintao was in space command center in Beijing today, watching the first space walk, and he attended a pre-launching ceremony on Thursday, when three of the country's astronauts were preparing for a three-day mission.

After pulling himself fully out of the orbiting module and tethering himself to a cord, Zhai Zhigang was handed the Chinese national flag, and while floating in space with one hand on the hand rail, he waved the red flag with his right hand, to the cheers of technicians in the central command center in Beijing.

Another astronaut, Liu Boming, briefly poked his hand and part of his body out of the module, becoming the second Chinese astronaut to touch outer space, while a third astronaut stayed behind in case of an emergency.

Though it is called a space walk, the astronauts are simply floating in space. Mr. Zhai floated slightly above the Shenzhou VII space craft for about 18 minutes before pulling himself back in and securing the door.