Shenzhou VII lifts off tonight

JIUQUAN, Gansu -- Shenzhou VII will lift off between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm Thursday, carrying three astronauts, one of who will become the first Chinese to walk in space, senior space program officials said Wednesday.

One of the astronauts, Zhai Zhigang will walk in space around 4:30 pm on Saturday, media reports said.

The spacecraft will carry astronauts Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, too.

One of the major tasks of the three-day mission is extra-vehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk in this case, mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao said at a news conference Wednesday. The success of the task will mark a remarkable step forward for China.

The other tasks include releasing a small monitoring satellite and satellite data relay trials, said Wang, who is also deputy director of China's manned space program office.

"The Shenzhou VII mission marks a historic breakthrough in China's manned space program. It is a great honor for all three of us to be part of the mission, and we are fully prepared for the challenge," Zhai Zhigang said when he and the other two astronauts met the media Wednesday.

Tonight's mission will be the second stage of China's three-stage manned space program, which eventually is aimed at building a space lab and a space station by 2020.

Engineers began loading fuel in the carrier rocket at 4 pm Wednesday, a process that would take seven hours and meant the launch was "irreversible", Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center officials said.

Shenzhou VII will be launched from atop the Long-March II-F carrier rocket into orbit 343 km from Earth.

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