Shenzhou 7

Description

Shenzhou 7 is a Chinese (PRC) manned satellite that was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from Jiquan (in Gansu Province) at 13:10 UT on 25 September 2008. The 2.8 m diameter, and 9.5 m high craft carried three astronauts for a three day mission in a return capsule. One of the astronauts made a brief spacewalk mainly to test the space suit. (That space suit was named Feitian, after the goddess who could fly.) The mission and the spacewalk are reported as an imminent precursor to building a space station in 2010. The capsule (2008-047H) returned, with all three astronauts, safely on the central part of Inner Mongolia on 29 September.