Three visiting taikonauts, or Chinese astronauts, launched an exhibition on "China's First Spacewalk Mission" Saturday morning, enabling Hong Kong citizens to have a glimpse of the country's space journey.

Three taikonauts of the Shenzhou VII manned space mission, Zhai Zhigang (right), Liu Boming (second from left) and Jing Haipeng (left), taikonauts' delegation head Zhang Jianqi (middle) and the Hong Kong regional government's Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of a spacewalk mission exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum on Saturday, December 6, 2008. [Xinhua]

Three taikonauts of the Shenzhou VII space mission, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, joined other guests including Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum.

In his opening speech at the exhibition, Tang welcomed the three taikonauts and other members of the Shenzhou VII delegation who arrived in Hong Kong Friday to start a four-day visit to the city.

"Hong Kong citizens had followed up every move by our Shenzhou VII spacecraft and our taikonauts ever since the space vessel's lift-off," Tang said, "and we have been looking forward to their visit to Hong Kong after they returned to Earth successfully."

"I do hope that in near future, we will have astronauts of Hong Kong to take a ride in our country's space aircraft, walk and wave to us from the outer space," he said.

Zhang Jianqi, delegation head of the Shenzhou VII manned space mission to Hong Kong and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of China's Manned Space Engineering Program, said the exhibition in Hong Kong is not only a recurrence of the Shenzhou VII manned space mission, but a record of the country's aerospace program during the past 16 years.

"We hope the exhibition will let Hong Kong compatriots have more knowledge of the country's aerospace cause and help promote the technological and cultural exchange between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong," Zhang added.