Chinese language astronauts carry out record-breaking 9-hour spacewalk exterior Tiangong area station (video)

Two Chinese language astronauts simply secured a spot in spaceflight historical past.

Cai Xuzhe and Track Lingdong, a part of China’s three-person Shenzhou 19 mission, spent greater than 9 hours spacewalking exterior the Tiangong area station from late Monday evening (Dec. 16) by means of Tuesday morning (Dec. 17), in accordance with officers with China’s Manned Area Engineering Workplace (CMSEO).

That broke the earlier period report for a single extravehicular exercise (EVA), which was eight hours and 56 minutes, in accordance with NASA. That mark was set by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms exterior the Worldwide Area Station again in March 2001.

Shenzhou 19 astronaut Cai Xuzhe conducts a spacewalk exterior China’s Tiangong area station on Dec. 17, 2024. (Picture credit score: CMSEO)

This week’s EVA was the primary for the Shenzhou 19 mission, which arrived at Tiangong on Oct. 29 for a six-month keep.

Associated: Watch Chinese language astronauts repair Tiangong area station photo voltaic wing in 8-hour spacewalk (video)

In the course of the spacewalk, Cai and Track — together with crewmate Wang Haoze, who remained inside Tiangong — “labored intently collectively, and with the help of the area station’s robotic arm and floor scientific researchers, accomplished the set up of the area station’s area particles safety gadget, the inspection and disposal of extravehicular tools and amenities, and different duties,” CMSEO officers mentioned in a WeChat replace on Tuesday.

“The extravehicular actions have been a whole success,” they added, additionally noting that Track, 34, “grew to become China’s first astronaut born within the Nineteen Nineties to conduct extravehicular actions.”

two astronauts in white spacesuits inside a space station, with a circular hatch open and the blackness of space visible outside

Shenzhou 19 astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Track Lingdon are seen close to the hatch of the Wentian module of China’s Tiangong area station on Dec. 17, 2024. (Picture credit score: CMSEO)

In response to SpaceNews, the spacewalk started on Monday at 11:51 p.m. EDT (0451 GMT on Dec. 17), when Cai, the Shenzhou 19 commander, exited Tiangong’s Wentian module. Track adopted swimsuit greater than 90 minutes later, at 1:32 a.m. EDT (0632 GMT).

Each astronauts went again inside Wentian at 8:57 a.m. EDT (1357 GMT) on Tuesday, CMSEO officers wrote within the replace. These numbers put the EVA’s period at 9 hours and 6 minutes, that means it broke the outdated report by simply 10 minutes.

The record-setting EVA was the seventeenth total exterior of Tiangong, in accordance with SpaceNews. The area station’s core module, referred to as Tianhe, reached orbit in April 2021. Two extra modules — Wentian and Mengtian — arrived in July 2022 and November 2022, respectively, finishing the T-shaped orbital outpost.