The successful accomplishment of the mission of the Shenzhou VII manned spacecraft filled the entire Chinese nation with joy and excitement. Not only has the successful launch of the spacecraft realized the Chinese people's dream of spacewalk (extra-vehicular activity or EVA), but it also stimulated their enthusiasm in learning and exploring space science knowledge. This is corroborated by the fact that during the just-concluded National Day holiday a popular space science fervor was felt all across China.

On September 29th, which was the first day of the National Day holiday, many parents came with their children to have a close look at the displayed re-entry module of the Shenzhou I spacecraft and the model of the spacecraft. Before 9 o'clock a.m. the number of visitors had already reached some 2,000, which was three times as many as usual.

"So far only twelve persons have ever set their feet on the moon, will you be the next person to do so?" In the morning of September 30th, a lot of children accompanied by their parents lined up in front of the poster printed with this sentence at the entrance to the Omnimax theater of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, waiting to buy admission tickets to Lunar Walk, a classical popular science film. During this year's National Day holiday, the various high technology cinemas of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum made available to the audience an array of classical popular science films such as Lunar Walk, the Great Collision of the Universe, the Adventure of the Black Star and the Mysteries of the Nile etc. Of these films, the Lunar Walk shown at the Omnimax theatre proved to be the most popular among the audience. The theater ran three shows a day, all with packed audience.

Over the course of the week-long holiday, Tianjin Science and Technology Museum and the teenage astronomy class opened at the Tianjin Children's Palace, as well as other popular science venues, all became focal point of the general public, hence a great upsurge in learning about and questing for astronomical and space science knowledge was unfolded amongst the broad mass of children and youths. Mr. Zhao Zhiheng, an expert on the popularization of astronomical science and technology especially offered a popular science lecture on the successful mission of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft at the Hongqiao district Children's Palace which attracted numerous young enthusiasts of astronomy.

Inside Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, the exhibition zone featuring space science and technology was overcrowded with visitors. Kids in particular were fascinated by displays ranging from simulated rocket launch to the demonstration of Mars probes. Sitting inside the "space capsule", they kept telling their peers what a beautiful experience it was to gaze at the starry sky simulated with optical fibers, which gave visitors a realistic feeling of space flight.

Situated in the city of Xi'an, the Aviation Science and Technology Museum was officially opened to tourists recently. During the National Day holiday, the museum became a kind of sought-after among local children. With the theme of "Give Wings to Your Dreams and Serve the Country by Involving Yourself in Aviation", the museum is divided into two galleries respectively focusing on the history of international aviation development and the history of China's aviation development. Arranged for display at different sections of the museum are dozens of aircraft models and material objects of aviation apparatus which enable visitors to learn about and understand aviation. At the multi-media interactive experiment zone, visitors can go inside flight simulators in order to personally experience the joy of flying. At the same time, they can also feel the stimulation created by the simulative triangle-winged glider.

To build on this significant popular space science touch brought about by the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, relevant experts expressed the hope that the popularization of science and technology should not stop at the introduction of knowledge, more importantly, it should grasp the things behind the knowledge in an effort to disseminate among the general public the scientific thinking, scientific methods and scientific spirit contained in such knowledge, as these are the very contents that all the more need to remain in citizens' memories for a long time.