nick robinson with that. >> reporter: a new milestone in china's space race. lessons from orbit.y are halfway through their 15-day in addition. they are teaching class 300 kilometers above earth. the only woman is wowing china's school children with experiments no earth bound teeacher could pull off. creating floating balls of water. gryoscopes. a two-way live dialogue just like a regular teacher. how do you measure the weight of objects in daily life one asks? i measure my weight with an electronic scale the student answers. beyond this classroom another 60 million chinese children and their teachers tuned in to watch the lectures. these space classes designed not just to enthuse a new generation, to set academic g l goals on the stars but the energize them about space travel. even before they left for space they were being hailed as heroes. the hopes of the nation to catch up in the global space race riding on their exploits. now as the mission draws to a close, air locked doors for the last time it went just be the restaurants breathing a sigh of relief. it will be china's lea

nick robinson reports. >> it is the most exclusive club on the planet. open only to the leaders of the world's richest nations. one question has hung over the still and beautiful waters of the lake. at the g8 -- has the g8 the will and the power to stop the latest conflict to ravage the middle east? 's often grim faced president putin has resisted pressure from his family there's. they wanted him to sign up to a statement to make clear that syria's future cannot involve president assad. he refused. the prime minister insisted that all the g8 leaders wanted this message to be heard by those considering abandoning the asad regime. sendat is important is to a clear signal to the syrian people. a know syria needs functioning government. it needs functioning departments. it needs a functioning police force. after asad has gone. you cannot imagine a syria where this man continues to roll. having done such dreadful things to his people. these people also want stability. that is what the international community has agreed. >> that was not spelled out in the g8 c