China's Space Accomplishment

This past Saturday a Chinese astronaut took the first official spacewalk for China. The astronaut was Zhai Zhigang, and he becomes the first Chinese man to be exposed in space from the nation of China. This recent action has become an historical landmark for China, as they show vast improvements in their space technology. This spacewalk has evoked a massive amount of national pride as the spacewalk was portrayed over a live broadcast. The Chinese government hopes that they can build on this successful space tour by building a space station by year 2020 and then one day walk on the moon. The New York Times reports "the achievement was another step toward establishing the country as an economic and technological superpower." Now China joins the company of the United States and Russia as being the only nations to have sent people to space with their own spacecrafts.