China's Shenzhou-7 mission headquarters has decided to load fuel into a Long-March II-F carrier rocket, that will launch the capsule and three Chinese taikonauts (astronauts) into space on Thursday.

The loading, which started at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, meant that the launch of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft is irreversible.

The loading would last for seven hours and two types of propellants will be loaded, sources with the launch center said.

China has announced that the spacecraft will blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Gansu Province set between 9:07 PM and 10:27 PM (Beijing Time) on Thursday.

One of the major tasks of the mission would be extravehicular activity (EVA), or known as space walk, the first of its kind attempted by Chinese taikonauts.

Other tasks included the release of a small monitoring satellite and trials of satellite data relay.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)