The Shenzhou 7 mission, to launch as early as Thursday, will be the first to carry a full complement of three astronauts, one of whom will perform China’s first spacewalk, or EVA for “extra-vehicular activity.” It is China’s third manned mission.

神舟七号飞船计划于本周四前发射，将第一次运送含三名宇航员的完整的空间补给，三名宇航员中的一人将执行中国首次太空行走，或者叫“舱外活动”，这也是中国第三次载人航天任务。

The maneuver will help China master docking techniques needed for the construction of a space station, likely to be achieved initially by joining one Shenzhou orbiter to another.

这将帮助中国掌握建立空间站所必需的对接技术，正如其完美的开始一样，使神舟系列飞船得以很好的延续。

The mission launches from the Jiuquan launch site in northwestern China. The lead astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, is expected to carry out the 40-minute spacewalk, which China will broadcast live.

此次发射将在位于中国西北部的西昌卫星发射中心完成，领航宇航员是翟志刚，人们猜测他将执行40分钟的出舱行走，中国将直播这一壮举。

“Shenzhou 7 is an incremental but important step forward,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island.

来自罗德艾兰州的一位研究中国空间项目的专家，美国海军学院的Joan Johnson-Freese先生说：“神七标志着中国在空间领域的一个非常重要的跨越式进步。”

Riding a wave of pride and patriotism after hosting the Olympics, China’s communist leaders face few of the public doubts or budgetary pressures constraining such programs elsewhere. That has allowed them to fuse political will and scientific gusto in a step-by-step process that could one day see Chinese astronauts landing on the moon.

伴随着成功举办奥运的高昂的民族自豪感和爱国主义情结，中---共领导者在几乎没有公众质疑或预算压力制约的前提下，借此项目将人们的政治意愿和科学热情很好地融合在一起，步步为营，并终将有一天把中国的宇航员送上月球。

Chinese space programs are methodically moving forward in a “very deliberate, graduated” manner, said Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org. Beijing is accumulating the building blocks of a comprehensive program, demonstrating “caution but confidence” as it gains on the U.S. and other space powers, he said.

中国空间项目正以其“非常从容不迫的、老道的”的方式有条不紊地向前推进，华盛顿智囊团(GlobalSecurity.org)、空间分析专家Charles Vick 先生说。北京正在积累建立空间综合项目的经验，以“小心谨慎却很自信”的角色，表露其赶超美国和其他空间大国的决心，Charles Vick先生接着说。