China's walk-in-space

Against the triumph of the Olympic Games and an emerging clouded scandal of milk products tainted with melamine, China's third manned space mission blasted off this evening from a remote desert site on a trip that's expected to include the country's first space walk.

The Shenzhou VII shot up into an inky black sky at the Jiuquan launch centre in the northwestern province of Gansu at exactly 9:10 pm.

It is China's third manned space venture since October 2003, when it joined Russia and the United States as the only countries to have sent astronauts into space. The space walk is expected Saturday.