In the latest incident, Chinese astronauts Ye Guangfu and Li Cong, part of the Shenzhou 18 three-man crew, completed a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk outside the Tiangong Space Station on Wednesday (July 3), while Li Guangsu supported by operating the robotic arm inside the space station.
Later, Li Cong used the robotic arm to inspect the space station’s facilities during an extravehicular activity (EVA), recording the process with a helmet camera.
The two re-entered the Tiangong through the extravehicular activity hatch in the civil and astronomy module. The main purpose of the extravehicular activity was to install protective devices for extravehicular equipment such as cables and pipelines to enhance the long-term operational safety and stability of the space station.
During the previous Shenzhou-18 spacewalk in late May, Ye and Li installed a space debris protection device on the outside of the Mengtian experimental module. The spacewalk lasted about 8.5 hours outside Tiangong, setting a national record.
“China’s space station is very beautiful. Every time the robotic arm moves to the highest point, I can’t help but look at the space station again and again despite the dazzling sunlight. I feel the greatness of this project in my heart and applaud all space experts and the motherland,” Li Cong said, according to Space.com.
Shenzhou 15 mission tops list for most spacewalks
According to CGTN, a total of 17 astronauts have participated in 16 spacewalks outside the space station, among which the crew of the Shenzhou 15 mission (November 2022 to June 2023) holds the record for the most spacewalks during a mission with four.
On July 4, 2021, Shenzhou 12 astronauts Liu Boxing and Tang Hongbo conducted the first spacewalk aboard the space station, lasting about seven hours. Before building the China Space Station (CSS), China had only conducted one spacewalk in 2008, during the Shenzhou 7 spaceflight.
The Shenzhou 13 crew performed two spacewalks during their six-month journey in orbit, just like previous spacecraft crews. But this spacecraft made history by having China’s first female spacewalker, Wang Yaping, known as the “Space Teacher” for giving live video lectures to students during its first space mission in 2013.
Shenzhou 14 performed three spacewalks, notable for being the first to do so from the Wentian Laboratory Module rather than the core module, and further setting a new record for the shortest time between spacewalks, with the second spacewalk occurring just 16 days after the first.
During the six-month mission starting in November 2022, the all-male crew of Shenzhou 15 will conduct four spacewalks, setting a new national record for the most spacewalks by a single crew member.
The Shenzhou 16 crew consisted of three male astronauts: an aircraft pilot, a flight engineer, and a payload specialist. During the five-month mission, they performed one spacewalk, fulfilling crew commander Jing Haipeng’s dream of becoming the first four-time astronaut to perform a spacewalk.
Shenzhou 17 performed two spacewalks, marking a milestone for Chinese astronauts performing maintenance work. The longest spacewalk by Chinese astronauts was performed by the crew of Shenzhou 18, which launched in late April. Commander Ye Guangfu and crew member Li Guangsu spent about eight and a half hours outside the CSS on May 28.
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About the Editor
Bojan Stojkovski Bojan Stojkovski is a freelance journalist based in Skopje, North Macedonia, who has been covering foreign policy and technology for over 10 years. His articles have been published in Foreign Policy, ZDNet, and Nature.
