Humans travel further into space in 2007

A Long March 3A carrier rocket blasts off from the Xichang Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province to send Chang'e I, China's first lunar probe, into space, Oct. 24, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)

A combination of photos taken from high-definition video shot from Japan's lunar orbiter Kaguya (Selene) shows the Earth setting from the moon's surface near its South Pole on Nov. 7, 2007 (Japan Standard Time). Selene is the first lunar explorer to take high-definition images of Earth. (Xinhua Photo)

International Space Station (ISS) Commander Peggy Whitson works on electrical and fluid connections during a spacewalk from the ISS in this image from NASA TV Nov. 24, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)

An undated photo released by NASA Feb. 15, 2007 shows the surface of Mars displaying the effects of ancient underground fluids. New images of a craggy, fissure-filled canyon on Mars provide evidence of long-term underground water flows that may have provided a suitable environment for microbial life, scientists said on Thursday. (Xinhua Photo)

An artist's rendering of a planet currently called Gliese 581C (L), which was discovered by European astronomers on April 24, 2007. The planet is located about 20 light years away from Earth, with potentially life sustaining qualities remarkably similar to our own planet. (Xinhua Photo)

A Russian Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, with space tourist Charles Simonyi of the U.S. and Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, sits on a launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome a few minutes before blast off April 7, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)