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A Glorious Journey 辉煌旅程

Three Chinese astronauts returned safely on Sunday after orbiting the Earth on board the Shenzhou-VII space capsule.

The message to the world is clear: after a slow start in space, China is catching up fast.

The spacecraft touched down in the Mongolian desert to rapturous applause from mission control in Beijing. Millions tuned in to watch the historic moment on television around the world.

Mission leader Zhai Zhigang was the first to emerge from the capsule and he was incredibly proud of their achievement.

"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges with a successful end," he said.

The mission follows China's successful hosting of the Olympics and included the country's first ever spacewalk.

Mr Zhai wore a Chinese-made spacesuit costing up to ￡20million (220million Yuan), and stayed outside the capsule for 15 minutes while his team mates stayed inside, monitoring his progress.

This exercise puts China as only the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to stage a successful space walk. It is also seen as a critical progression in the country's three-step space programme, with the ultimate aim to build a large space station.

Is there a new space race underway now? Roger Launius of the National Air and Space Museum think there is. "It is an Asian space race. It's between China, Japan, maybe Korea, certainly India," said Mr Launius.

"The Chinese, because of their full service capability – humans, robots and military – are at this point in time the leaders in that race. But those other countries have a lot of capabilities too," he added.

Meanwhile, the families of the astronauts have to wait patiently as their space heroes undergo two weeks of preventative quarantine, just in case their body defences may have been weakened by the trip.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

astronauts 宇航员

orbiting 环绕

Shengzhou-VII space capsule 神舟七号航天舱

catching up 迎头赶上

touched down 着陆

rapturous applause 热烈的掌声

mission control 太空航行地面指挥中心

tuned in 收看

emerge 出现

capsule 太空舱

spacewalk 太空漫步

spacesuit 航天服

monitoring his progress 监测他的进展

ultimate aim 最终目标

space station 宇航站

space race 太空竞赛

robots 机器人

capabilities 能力

undergo 接受（治疗）

preventative quarantine 预防性的隔离