Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang completed a historic space walk on Saturday afternoon, marking a breakthrough in the country's ambitious program which will lead to the establishment of a permanent space station.

Donning a US$4-million homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai slipped head first out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 at 4:43 PM.

He waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule, video monitors at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showed.

"Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world," the taikonaut reported to ground control in Beijing.

Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao watched live transmission of the space walk from the Beijing center, breaking into applause with the successful completion of each stage of the maneuver.

Zhai, who turns 42 next month, was an air force pilot before enrolling in the manned space program. He grew up in dirt-poor hardship with five siblings in the country's far northeast.

Minutes after Zhai was outside the capsule, teammate Liu Boming also briefly emerged to hand Zhai a Chinese national flag to wave in outer space against the backdrop of the blue planet Earth.

The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft from inside the re-entry module.

Video monitors at ground control showed Zhai then slowly leaned towards a test sample of solid mass lubricant attached outside the orbital module. He took the sample and handed it over to Liu.

Solid lubricant is widely used in spacecraft and the test sample carried by Shenzhou-7 includes 11 types of lubricant.

Chinese scientists said they hoped to improve the property and lifetime of the material by studying the samples.

After handing over the test sample, Zhai, who dreamed of flying into space when he was a teenager, started the core part of the space adventure -- spacewalking about 343km above the earth.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2008)