Shenzhou 18 Docked with Tiangong on the 25th of Last Month
Chinese manned spacecraft 'Shenzhou 18' astronauts have reportedly succeeded in their first spacewalk.
According to major Chinese media on the 29th, the three astronauts who boarded Shenzhou 18, launched on the 25th of last month and arrived at the Tiangong space station the next day, completed facility inspection tasks such as installing space debris protection devices through a spacewalk lasting about eight and a half hours starting from 6:58 PM (local time) the previous day.
The spacewalk was carried out by the leaders Ye Guangfu (葉光富) and Li Guangsu (李廣蘇).
This was the first time Shenzhou 18 astronauts floated outside the space station, setting a new longest duration record for Chinese astronauts' spacewalks. The previous longest record was 8 hours, set by Shenzhou 17 astronauts.
So far, Chinese astronauts' spacewalks have been conducted 16 times, starting with Zhai Zhigang's approximately 19-minute spacewalk during Shenzhou 7 in September 2008.
Shenzhou 18 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Suzhou on the 25th of last month and successfully docked with the Tiangong space station the next day. They are expected to stay on the space station for about six months, conducting space science experiments and tests, performing extravehicular activities, cargo handling, installing space debris protection equipment, and installing and retrieving extravehicular payloads and equipment.
After completing Tiangong in space at the end of 2022, China is moving to take the lead in the space industry. To this end, China is implementing plans to launch two manned spacecraft and one to two cargo spacecraft annually to dock with the space station. On May 30 last year, Shenzhou 16 was launched, followed by Shenzhou 17 on October 26.
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