JIUQUAN: China’s three-man spacecraft
shifted from an oval orbit to a more stable circular orbit some 213 miles (343
kilometers) above Earth on early Friday in preparation for the country’s first
attempt at a spacewalk.

The three astronauts were in good physical
condition, with normal body temperature and blood pressure, the official Xinhua
News Agency reported.

They were scheduled to assemble and test their
spacesuits later in the day ahead of the spacewalk, which Xinhua said would
likely happen Saturday afternoon.

The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, China’s
third manned mission, blasted into space atop a Long March 2F rocket shortly
after 9:10 p.m. (1310 GMT) Thursday night.

The launch was broadcast
live on state television in a display of China’s growing confidence in its
16-year manned space program. Shortly before the feed was cut, one of the crew
reported that they were all well and that they had extended the three-module
craft’s solar panels.

At 4:03 a.m. (2003 GMT Thursday), the
astronauts executed a 64-second burn to shift the spaceship from an oval-shaped
orbit into a round one, meaning it was circling the Earth at a constant
distance, Xinhua reported.

The change in orbit ensures the Earth’s
gravitational pull will not vary during the spacewalk attempt, and will allow
for smooth operation of the ship’s instruments, Xinhua said.

A round
orbit will also help Shenzhou make a precise landing on the Inner Mongolian
Steppe on Sunday after its re-entry vehicle bursts through the Earth’s
atmosphere, Xinhua said.

The mission, expected to last three or four
days, is devoted almost entirely to the execution of the spacewalk, a key step
in mastering techniques for docking two orbiters to create China’s first
orbiting space station.

The two astronauts who will don space suits
for the spacewalk will be supported by Russian experts throughout the mission.
Only one will actually leave the orbiter module to retrieve scientific
experiments placed outside, described by Xinhua as solid lubricant samples. They
will then release an 88-pound (40-kilogram) satellite, which will circle the
orbiter sending back images.

Zhai Zhigang, an unsuccessful candidate
for the previous two manned missions, has been touted by the official Xinhua
News Agency as the astronaut likely to carry out the spacewalk. All three
astronauts are 42-year-old fighter pilots with more than 1,000 hours of flying
time.

China’s last manned mission, Shenzhou 6, came in 2005, two
years after the country first put a person into orbit.