A Chinese astronaut has emerged from the Shenzhou 7 spaceship to perform his nation's first-ever spacewalk. State broadcaster CCTV showed live images of mission commander Zhai Zhigang as he floated out of the orbiter module's hatch. «Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world,» Zhai said. Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag that he then waved for an exterior camera. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module. A successful spacewalk paves the way for assembling a space station from two Shenzhou orbital modules, the next major goal of China's manned spaceflight program, according to a report of the Associated Press.
