As China's First Spacewalk Unfolds, Anchors Keep Their Cool
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
BEIJING, Sept. 27 It was an unprecedented moment for China's space program and a possibly unrivaled 30 minutes for state broadcaster CCTV.
At 4:25 p.m. Saturday, five minutes before China's first-ever spacewalk, television viewers just tuning in were treated to a live image of the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft in orbit, hanging, it seemed, under the gentle curvature of Earth.
"Right now, the spacecraft is very quiet, and we can only hear the voice of the orders from the command center," an off-camera CCTV anchor said.
President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders were watching from the command center in Beijing. But there was no banter or blather. There were no on-screen logos or slogans.
At 4:30, cameras showed Shenzhou 7 commander Zhai Zhigang in a white, Chinese-made, $4.4 million spacesuit hovering just below a round door in the orbital module.
"They're preparing to open the door, and they're reporting the pressure in the cabin," anchor Lu Jin said, his minimalist approach intact.
In the future, Lu said, China plans to send more satellites into space, which will help send back to Earth pictures of future launches. It was a quiet reference to China's grand ambitions and its vision of space as a commercial and military sphere of influence in which it hopes to have a dominant role.
In 2003, China became only the third country to send a person into space using its own rocket, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Saturday's spacewalk was a first step toward the assembly of a space station from two Shenzhou orbital modules.
At 4:35 p.m., as Zhai floated inside the orbital module, a voice from the command center was heard. "I am Beijing. Open the door," the voice said.
But that appeared to require some levering. The pressure inside and outside the door was different, Lu explained helpfully. Four minutes later, there was applause from the command center.
"This is a historic moment. At 4:39 Beijing time, the door opened," Lu said.
There was more applause as the door was pushed completely open. And still more at 4:45 as Zhai's head and shoulders pushed out into space. The astronaut turned and waved to the camera, his face shielded by a reflective helmet.
