Photos of a flag-waving astronaut floating in space were splashed across the front pages of state-run newspapers Sunday as China celebrated its first-ever space walk, a prelude to further exploration into areas previously dominated by Russia and the United States.

Led by mission commander Zhai Zhigang, the manned space flight was launched Thursday and expected to return Sunday.

Saturday’s space walk, which was broadcast live and watched by crowds gathered before outdoor television screens, further stoked national pride one month after the close of the Beijing Olympics.

“A small step by Zhai Zhigang in space is a big step in the history of the Chinese nation,” said a commentary by the official Xinhua News Agency, carried by the Beijing Daily newspaper.

“This historical step shows the ample strengths that have been accumulated since the reform and opening up,” the article said, referring to when China embarked on free-market reforms almost 30 years ago.

On most newspaper front pages were pictures of Zhai clutching a Chinese flag as he hovered in space outside the Shenzhou 7 vessel, alongside photos of China’s President Hu Jintao on a telephone as he spoke to the astronauts.

“The first Chinese footprint has been left in the vast outer space” proclaimed the China Youth Daily.

Sunday’s midday newscast by state broadcaster China Central Television replayed video footage of the spacewalk and showed crowds applauding in schools, shops and on the streets across the country.

State media coverage reflected much of the glory onto Hu, who was present at the launch and watched the spacewalk at Beijing’s ground control center.

“Your success represents a new breakthrough in our manned space program,” Hu told the astronauts in a scripted exchange that was also broadcast live.

“The motherland and the people thank you,” said Hu, who chairs the powerful Communist Party and government military committees that oversee the space program.

The spacewalk was mainly aimed at testing China’s mastery of the technology involved. Zhai’s sole task was to retrieve a rack attached to the outside of the orbital module containing an experiment involving solid lubricants.

Tethered to handles attached to the Shenzhou 7 ship’s orbital module, Zhai remained outside for about 13 minutes before climbing back inside.

“Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world,” Zhai, facing an external camera, said as he floated halfway out of the open hatch.

Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.

While successful, the spacewalk wasn’t without its anxious moments.

Zhai, a 41-year-old fighter pilot, appeared to struggle with the hatch and a fire alarm was triggered in the orbiter as he began the spacewalk.

Wang Zhaoyao, deputy director of manned space flight, conceded the combined effects of weightlessness and depressurization on the hatch opening operation hadn’t been fully anticipated. He blamed a faulty sensor for the fire alarm.

The spacewalk required astronauts to first depressurize and then repressurize the orbital module and proved the effectiveness of Zhai’s Feitian space suit, produced by China at a cost of $4.4 million. Liu wore a nearly identical Russian-made Orlan suit, according to the reports.

The spacewalk paves the way for assembling a space station from two Shenzhou orbital modules, the next major goal of China’s manned spaceflight program.

China is also pursuing lunar exploration and may attempt to land a man on the moon in the next decade _ possibly ahead of NASA’s 2020 target date for returning to the moon.

China launched its first manned mission, Shenzhou 5, in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the United States to launch a man into space. That was followed by a two-man mission in 2005.

Along with challenging Russia and the U.S., the spacewalk ups the ante in China’s competition with aspiring Asian space powers Japan and India. China’s advances have spurred investment in their own programs, partly for bragging rights but also in search of economic benefits such as grabbing a bigger slice of the commercial satellite launching business.