Chinese astronauts have performed the country’s first spacewalk, working for seven hours on the outside of the new Tiangong station in orbit around Earth.
 |
| A representation of Space Walk |
Two astronauts made the first space walk on Sunday outside China's new orbital station to work on setting up a 15-meter (50-foot) long robotic arm. Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were shown by state TV climbing out of the airlock as Earth rolled past below them. The third crew member, commander Nie Haisheng, stayed inside.
The astronauts arrived June 17 for a three-month mission aboard China's third orbital station, part of an ambitious space program that landed a robot rover on Mars in May. On Sunday morning, two of them left the station for about seven hours of work in the first spacewalk at Tiangong, the China Manned Space Agency said. Their mission comes as the ruling Communist Party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding.
The station's first module, Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, was launched April 29. That was followed by an automated spacecraft with food and fuel. Liu, Nie and Tang arrived June 17 aboard a Shenzhou capsule.
On Sunday, Liu and Tang were completing installation of a robotic arm that will be used to assemble the rest of the station, according to state media. State TV said their space suits are designed to allow them to work in the vacuum of space for up to six hours if needed.
“The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the complete success of the first spacewalk in our country’s space station construction,” the agency said.
The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 launches through to the end of next year, including three more crewed missions. They will deliver two lab modules to expand the station, along with supplies and astronauts.
Liu is a veteran of the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008, during which Zhai Zhigang made China's first space walk. Nie is on his third trip into space while Liu is making his first. All are military pilots.
Chinese president Xi Jinping has said the construction of China’s first space station is opening “new horizons” in humanity’s attempts to explore the cosmos.
China’s ambition to build an orbiting outpost of its own was fuelled in part by a US ban on Chinese astronauts on the International Space Station, a collaboration between the US, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Tiangong is expected to have a lifespan of at least 10 years, and China has said it would be open to international collaboration on the station.
0 Comments