The re-entry module of China's Shenzhou-7 spacecraft is lifted
onto a truck at Beijing's Changping railway station Sept. 30, 2008. The module
was shipped to Beijing Tuesday afternoon, two days after its safe landing in
northern China's Inner Mongolia. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The re-entry module of China's Shenzhou-7
spacecraft arrived in Beijing Tuesday afternoon, two days after its safe landing
in northern China's Inner Mongolia.
The capsule was shipped to Beijing's Changping Railway Station by train at
about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, and will be later delivered to the China Academy of
Space Technology (CAST), where the spacecraft was manufactured, for checks and
further studies.
Preliminary examination of the capsule said its exterior remained in good
shape.
CAST experts will open the capsule on Wednesday morning and conduct further
examinations on the capsule and the parachute that helped the craft's safe
landing.
The test sample of solid lubricant fetched by China's first spacewalker
Zhai Zhigang on Saturday afternoon from the outside of the orbital module during
his 20-minute spacewalk will be handed to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and
studied there.
Back from a 68-hour successful mission that included the country's maiden
spacewalk, the Shenzhou-7 re-entry module carrying three taikonauts landed
safely by parachute at about 5:40p.m. Sunday in China's northern grassland.
42-year-old taikonaut Zhai Zhigang, assisted by his fellow Liu Boming, made
China the third country in the world to successfully stage an extra-vehicular
activity in the space only after the United States and Russia.
Other tasks of the mission included carrying out trials of satellite data
relay and releasing a 40-kilogram companion satellite.
The re-entry module of China's Shenzhou-7 spacecraft is lifted
onto a truck at Beijing's Changping railway station Sept. 30, 2008. The module
was shipped to Beijing Tuesday afternoon, two days after its safe landing in
northern China's Inner Mongolia. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)
