Two Chinese astronauts have set a new spacewalk record for the country.
Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu, two members of China’s three-person Shenzhou 18 mission, spent about 8.5 hours working outside the Tiangong Space Station today (May 28).
This is longer than any previous Chinese space walk, or extravehicular activity (EVA). according to The country’s state-run Xinhua News Service.
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Ye and Li “completed the installation of the space station’s space debris protection device and inspection of the equipment and facilities outside the vehicle,” officials with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) wrote in a statement. Update today. (Translation via Google.)
Space junk is a real concern for Chinese space officials; Tiangong recently suffered a partial power outage after debris fell on its solar panels, for example.
Today’s EVA was the first for Li and the second for Ye, who also exited Tiangong during the Shenzhou 13 mission in December 2021. The third member of the Shenzhou 18 mission, Li Cong, assisted the EVA from inside Tiangong, observing the astronauts And their activities.
It was the first extravehicular activity of the six-month Shenzhou 18 mission, which launched for Tiangong in late April. China’s previous manned flight, Shenzhou 17, has performed two spacewalks out of Tiangong. Shenzhou 15 has set the country’s single mission mark with four extra-vehicular vehicles.
Shenzhou 18 may be similarly active. “According to the plan, a large number of scientific experiments and technical tests, as well as astronaut crew EVA activities and applied EVA payload missions, will be carried out during the Shenzhou 18 manned flight mission,” CMSA officials wrote in an update today.
Chinese astronauts have conducted a total of 16 spacewalks so far, according to Xinhua News Agency. The country’s first EVA occurred on September 27, 2008, when Zhai Zhigang ventured out of his Shenzhou 7 capsule for about 20 minutes.
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