The Shenzhou-7 manned space mission delegation received a warm welcome on its arrival in Hong Kong this morning for a four-day visit.

Chief Secretary Henry Tang, Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing and Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong Gao Siren met the delegation at the airport.

Other guests included Deputy Director of the Liaison Office Peng Qinghua, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong Lu Xinhua, Commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison Major General Zhang Shibo, and the Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison Lieutenant General Liu Liangkai.

Safe landing: Chief Secretary Henry Tang, 300 students and other guests welcomed the Shenzhou-7 manned space mission delegation at the airport.

Led by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of China's Manned Space Engineering Programme Zhang Jianqi, the 40-strong delegation includes astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, as well as commanders or designers of the mission's major engineering systems.

About 300 schoolchildren and members of the public waved flags and applauded the delegation in the airport arrival hall. A small group of children presented bouquets to Mr Zhang and the three astronauts.

The delegation will attend a welcome dinner hosted by the Government at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in the evening to meet members from various sectors of the community.

Meanwhile, as at 6pm, more than 50,000 free admission tickets, or about 76% of the tickets to be distributed to the public, for the exhibition on China's First Spacewalk Mission had been given out. Tickets for tomorrow, the first day of the exhibition, Sunday, December 13 and December 14 have all been distributed.

The remaining tickets are now available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Science Museum's box office while stocks last.