Companion Satellite Successfully Circles the Orbital Module of Shenzhou-7

The companion satellite released from China's third manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-7, has successfully circled the orbital module of the spaceship after several orbit adjustments.

The satellite has taken over 1,000 pictures in space since being released more than a week ago.

It has also sent the pictures back to Earth.

Zhu Zhencai, chief designer of the companion satellite, says cameras on the satellite will photograph the module for further studies, helping pave the way for the establishment of a space station.

"According to the original plan, the service life of this satellite should be more than 3 months. Therefore we will carry out some experiments, including the observation of the earth and the orbit. We will also test the lithium accumulator and solar panels we developed to further validate their technical feasibility in space."

Though it was scheduled to circle the module for only 3 times, scientists with the mission say the companion satellite is capable of doing it more than 20 times based on its current working condition.