China's third manned space mission to have three astronauts

Zhengzhou, July. 31:

China's third manned space mission in 2008 will carry three astronauts, who are expected to undertake a space walk, the official media reported today. Compared to the previous two manned space missions, the Shenzhou VII space mission, which includes a space walk, is more complex, a senior space official said. The astronauts are scheduled to perform work outside the capsule such as installing equipment and "tightening screws".

The Xi'an Satellite Control Centre, a major Chinese institution responsible for recovering satellites and spaceships, has started training its rescue and search teams for the third manned space mission, scheduled to be launched in 2008.

Initial training for this started after the Shenzhou VI space mission in 2005 and dozens of workers are being trained for four hours per day, Yao was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

"We have been organising training in accordance with new requirements and are learning to operate new equipment on the spaceship and deal with any possible hitches," he said. He said the team had recruited more workers this time as there will be three astronauts on the next spacecraft. Two workers will be assigned to each astronaut, the report said. China had launched its manned space programme in 1999.

It successfully sent Yang Liwei, the country's first astronaut, into orbit on the Shenzhou V spacecraft in 2003. Yang spent about 21 hours in orbit. Two years later, astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng completed a Chinese record five-day flight on the Shenzhou VI. All astronauts returned to the ground safely.