Chinanews, Beijing, Mar¹. 5 – Chinese astronauts might conduct spacewalk next year, said Qi Faren, a CPPCC National Committee member and the chief designer of the Shenzhou spaceships in an interview given to a Hong Kong reporter while attending a panel discussion of the ongoing² NPC and CPPCC annual sessions. He said that China planned to launch the Shenzhou 7 spaceship next year. The spaceship would carry three astronauts aboard to conduct spacewalk.

The reporter later got the information verified from an authoritative³ person. However, according to the present plan, two of the three astronauts in the spaceship would stay inside the cabin whereas only one astronaut will come out of the cabin to walk in space. At present, scientists are trying to make the clothes that astronauts will wear during the spacewalk.

As the chief designer of China’s first five Zhenzhou spaceships, Qi said he felt greatly honoured when Yang Liwei, the first astronaut to take China’s manned spaceship, returned to earth and took his hands and said “the spaceship is excellent.”

After launching Shenzhou 7, China also plans to launch Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 spaceships, and the interval⁴ between the launching times of these spaceships will become shorter in future.

Apart from launching spaceships, preparation work for China’s widely concerned moon probe project is also well underway. China will send the first moon probe satellite into space this year.