<div><p>A 42-year-old fighter pilot has been chosen to become the first Chinese person to walk in space, with the historic mission set for September 25, the government said Tuesday.</p><p>Zhai Zhigang, a colonel in the People's Liberation Army, and two other astronauts will be on board the Shenzhou VII for China's third manned space mission when it blasts off for a 68-hour flight, the nation's cabinet said.</p><p>Zhai will then undertake a 40-minute manoeuvre outside the spacecraft on the afternoon of either September 26 or 27, according to the announcement on the website of the State Council, or cabinet.</p><p>He will release a small satellite which will broadcast video images of his walk outside the craft, it said.</p><p>His pressurised spacesuit, which cost up to 100 million yuan (15 million dollars), is largely based on Russian designs and will include two lifelines that will supply oxygen and communications, the announcement said.</p><p>The Shenzhou VII is scheduled to launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the desert of northwest China's Gansu province on the evening of September 25, according to the cabinet.</p><p>The return capsule is scheduled to return to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia on September 28.</p><p>Riding with him in the spacecraft will be Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, both also 42 and PLA fighter pilots, according to the announcement.</p><p>All three astronauts, or taikonauts as they are known in China, are longtime members of the ruling Communist Party.</p><p>They formed the back-up team for the June 2005, Shenzhou VI space mission, which carried two astronauts on a five-day flight.</p><p>Zhai, married with one son, just missed out on being the first Chinese person to go into space in 2003.</p><p>China became the third nation to put a man in space five years ago when Yang Liwei orbited the earth in a solo mission.</p><p>Zhai, who moved over from the PLA's airforce to the nation's space programme in 1998, was on a shortlist of three to do that mission.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=32824565&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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