The following pictures are from a brief video report broadcast on China's CCTV7 state run channel (CCTV9 is that government's English language channel) that has found its way onto Youtube - see the video embedded in the extended section of this blog posting along with older related videos
Below is what appears to be the first picture of the Chinese EVA spacesuit, albeit modified for underwater operation, and unsurprisingly, like this video obtained by Flight in 2007, it looks very much like a Russian Zvezda Orlan suit
While this image shows the orbital module model in the bottom of the tank it also looks very similar to the shape and design of the module shown in the aforementioned video
The following two images appear to be pictures of the two astronauts to undergo water tank training and perhaps they are candidates to carry out the mission?
Click on for the water tank training video
The video also shows what appears to be post landing survival training with three astronauts involved, the maximum number of crew China's Shenzhou spacecraft can carry and the designated number for the Shenzhou VII mission. For some time now this mission has been said to be planned for October this year, three years after the last manned mission that involved two crew
My two blogs from my trip to Beijing and visit to the China Astronaut Training Center are here and here
What I saw there made me very sceptical of China's ability to have a space walk mission this year. The water tank video sequence shows that the Chinese are following up to date Russian (and American) practice although those two countries first EVA events in the 1960s did not involve water based training
The appearence of the water tank, assuming it is in China, would suggest they have put in the investment necessary. I have been to Russia's Gagarin Training Center aka Star City and been inside its water tank facility and it is not the same
For my other travelogue like blog postings with lots of video from my worldly travelsgo here
And here are those other videos and click here for some speculation from Australian Chinese space programme expert Dr Morris Jones
on May 6, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply
Guess it answers the previous skepticism, even though they're copies of Russian equipment with much less raw materials. Suppose we should be grateful for just 29 seconds of people walking around a swimming pool followed by 1 second of something underwater. This is the new standard of media coverage.
on October 2, 2008 5:43 AM | Reply
Here in Taiwan (75miles from China) every national news network has declared that the Chinese Space walk was a hoax or faked video. They claim these reasons.
1. No stars in video (space is suppose to have stars).
2. The flag. The flag waved around oddly as if being blown in many directions by wind, but there is no wind in the vacuum of space.
3. The rapid movement of the astronaut. The suite should cause the movement to be much slower, encumbering the user.
4. China's fears of being left behind America's scientific genius caused China's loss of honor, forcing them to make the fake.
on October 3, 2008 6:06 AM | Reply
That's pretty amazing, Jay. I'm disappointed to hear that. I know the anti-China sentiment's can run high but to deny these flights happened really makes me mad. I'm sure China's success in these flights could be independently verified by a number of countries that the capabilities to track space objects and launches.
on April 26, 2009 12:11 AM | Reply
It was faked, here´s a video:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=39e_1240521483
Do watch the whole 4 minutes.