Taikonauts

Today China made another great leap by launching Shenzhou -7 into space carrying 3 "space travelers" or Taikonauts. This word comes from the Chinese term "taikong" meaning space and the greek word "naut" meaning traveler. This word has been listed in several popular dictionaries like Oxford and Longman which shows recognition by many Englishmen. This can be seen as another sign of China's growing global influence. It is not the first time a Chinese word has been adopted by foreighners. Kungfu is another one. Chen says, "But all the other words that were borrowed by foreign languages users refer to things in China's past. The new word shows that China has more to export to the world than just Kungfu and Chinese food."
In 1988 Taikonauts was coined when China first began training astronauts. During the Shenzhou -7 mission one of the 3 taikonauts will make China's first space walk. The third nation in the world under the U.S. and Russia.