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Jiuquan, Gansu Sept. 25 (Xinhua)-China launched its third manned spacecraft on Thursday with three
astronauts on board to attempt the country's first-ever space walk.
The spaceship Shenzhou-7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the JiuQuan Satellite
Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 pm. after a breathtaking countdown to another
milestone on China's space journey. Onboard pilots Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are expected
to orbit the earth for three days, when one of them will float out of the cabin about 343 kilometers above the
earth.
When they make it, China will become the third country in the world who is able to conduct
extra-vehicular activity (EVA) in space following the former Soviet Union and the United States.
President Hu Jintao watched the historic moment at the launch center, joined by Chinese experts and other
work staff.
Two taikonauts would enter the orbital module, where one would put on domestically-made spacesuit
Feitian and leave the module to take back test samples loaded outside, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of
the country's manned space project.
The other would wear a Russian Orlan suit and stay in the depressurized cabin for support, said Zhou.
"We wish we could fly freely in space just like Feitian on the ancient Buddhist murals, so we gave this name
to the homemade spacesuit," said Zhou. Feitian, which literally means flying in the sky, is the name of a
legendary Buddhist goddess.
Other tasks of the Shenzhou-7 crew include the release of a small monitoring satellite and a trial of the
data relay of the satellite Tianlian-I.
The taikonauts, all 42 years old, are scheduled to land in the central region of north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region in a re-entry module after their mission is completed.
1. The underlined word in the second paragraph means _____.
A. the action of counting seconds forwards from zero
B. the action of counting seconds backwards to zero
C. the period of time just before something important happens
D. something that can be counted
2. They call the spacesuit Feitian because _____.
A. The spacesuit can help them to fly freely in the sky
B. Feitian is the name of a legendary Buddhist goddess
C. The spacesuit is made in Russia
D. They wish they could fly freely in space just like Feitian
3. The main task of the Shenzhou-7 crew is to _____.
A. float out of the cabin about 343 kilometers above the earth
B. conduct extra-vehicular activity in space
C. release a small monitoring satellite
D. take back test samples loaded outside
4. According to the text, we can know that_____.
A. China has launched two manned spacecraft with astronauts on board
B. The three pilots are expected to orbit the earth for 3 days
C. The former Soviet Union and the United States can not conduct extra- vehicular activity in space
D. Two taikonauts would leave the module to take back test samples
