China counts down to its riskiest space mission yet

Zhai Zhigang, an air force colonel who grew up in abject poverty in China's bleak northeast, is expected to carry out the 30-minute space walk Friday or more likely Saturday, according to state media.

The Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou VII spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China between 9:07pm and 10:27pm (1307 and 1427 GMT) Thursday.

Its mission: a 68-hour journey to space and back, including the walk while in orbit 373 kilometers (230 miles) above Earth.

"We have the confidence, the determination and the ability to take the Chinese peoples first steps into space," said one of the three astronauts, Jing Haipeng, referring to the space walk.

Getting comfortable with the art of spacewalking is a crucial next step in China's most immediate extra-terrestrial ambition: to build a permanent space lab.

By 2010 two more unmanned craft will have been sent up, as well as another manned spaceship with a crew of three to start work on the lab, according to the China Daily.

Vice President Xi Jinping -- widely seen as China's likely next leader when political power changes hands in four years -- was due to meet the astronauts two and a half hours before take-off, the China Daily said.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the mission was part of China's effort to "explore and make peaceful use of outer space."

"We believe this will further promote our space flight technology and make a contribution to the peaceful use of outer space for all human beings. We wish the Shenzhou VII mission a complete success," he said.

The astronauts, led by 41-year-old Zhai, have trained together for over a decade, but the mission is not without its risks, notably the space walk.

"The process of (space walks) cannot be simulated completely on the ground," said Wang Zhaoyao, spokesman of the manned space mission, according to the China Daily.

"Some of the newly developed products have to be tested in flight for the first time."

One of the astronauts, whom government websites have identified as Zhai, will test a new Chinese-made spacesuit on the space walk.

Coming just a month after the end of the Beijing Olympics, the mission may trigger a new burst of nationalist pride in some segments of the population.

Space enthusiasts hoping to witness for themselves China's next bid for greatness have been converging on Jiuquan, a city of about 340,000 people, mostly farmers and miners, in a remote part of Gansu province.

A middle school teacher surnamed Chen from the provincial capital, Lanzhou, was part of a group of 200 who would be bused the 280 kilometers to the launch centre to watch Shenzhou -- its name means "Divine Vessel" -- blast off.

"The education department of Gansu has arranged for us to go. We're coming from all around the province. It'll help push forward science and technology education," he said.

China first sent a man into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to accomplish this feat.

The pioneer astronaut, Yang Liwei, became a national hero and is still featured at major events, acting as one of the torch bearers in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the August Beijing Games.

China's second manned space mission in 2005 sent two men into orbit for 115 hours, with the task of studying living and working conditions in space.

China's manned space program is characterized by its frugality compared with the U.S. and Soviet programs in the 1960s, and it does not repeat a test or an experiment that has already proved successful, observers say.

The Shenzhou VII is scheduled to land in the northern Inner Mongolia region after the mission is completed.