China completes its first spacewalk

OUTER REALM: The event is a breakthrough for China's manned space program.

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Beijing: China’s space program has achieved a major milestone - the nation's first-ever space walk.

China's first astronaut Zhai Zhigang completed his walk in space waved to his countrymen and then uttered these words: ‘Greetings to all the people in China and the world’ and waved the country’s flag in man’s final frontier.

Back on earth they responded, with pride watching their hero in a big screen.

"I love China!" "I'm proud to be Chinese,” says Zhigang.

The event coming close on the heels of the sporting extravaganza a few months ago, China's government says it hopes to send the message that its rising power is not just on earth, but also in space.

A successful spacewalk is a major step forward for China's plans to build a space station by 2020.

In the words of China's manned space program, this is a breakthrough.

The said the ultimate purpose for exploring space is to pursue peace. China should definitely mark its footprint on this part of history.

With details of its space program still cloaked in secrecy and under the control of China's military, concerns linger that this will only expedite a space race.

However, Dean Cheng, who tracks China's military and technology, calls the race more of a crawl and one that may spur more space exploration from the US.

Cheng says, "I think the US generally responds better when there is competition than where there isn't."

The days of milk scandals and the earthquake were forgotten momentarily and only big dreams were being met by China.

A big and growing nation continuing to stretch the boundaries of its power.