BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- All five satellite tracking ships are now in
position to support China's first space walk mission.
The final Yuanwang ship arrived at its destination on Monday, said Jian
Shilong, director with the China Maritime Tracking and Control Department.
The ships will remotely track and support the Shenzhou VII space shuttle
which will blast off in late September.
Four ships are on the Pacific ocean and one is on the Atlantic.
"In previous missions including the Shenzhou V and Shenzhou VI missions,
only four tracking ships were deployed," Jian said. "We added one more to the
Shenzhou VII mission to monitor the taikonaut's extra-vehicular activities."
Jian said the tracking ships will monitor the entire space walk and also
keep tabs on the depressurization of the orbital module when taikonauts leave
and re-enter the spaceship.
The Yuanwang ships can control the shuttle's solar panels, its orbit
maneuvers and maintenance.
In all, China boasts a fleet of six Yuanwang space tracking ships which
have carried out 68 expeditions and traveled more than1.4 million sea miles in
the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
The tracking ships constitute China's space telemetry network together with
some 20 terrestrial surveying stations.