Tethered to handles attached to the exterior of the Shenzhou-7 spaceship's orbital module, Zhai remained outside for about 20 minutes before returning to the module and closing the hatch behind him.

A fellow astronaut, Liu Boming, also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag that he waved before an exterior camera filming the event. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.