Chinese astronauts performed record-breaking spacewalk for 8.5 hours

Latest Science & Tech Team TabloidPK May 30, 2024 0 Comments 57 Views

Chinese astronauts performed record-breaking spacewalk for 8.5 hours

Two Chinese astronauts performed a record-breaking spacewalk for 8.5 hours outside China’s Tiangong space station. Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu made this record by breaking the earliest record of the longest spacewalk by Chinese astronauts at eight hours in 2008.

However, this was China’s first spacewalk as part of the six-month Shenzhou 18 mission in which Chinese astronauts performed record-breaking extravehicular activity (EVA). EVA refers to the time an astronaut gets out of a space vehicle and spends in space. EVA is also known as a spacewalk.

*Shenzhou 18 mission crew completed 8.5 hours long spacewalk*

Manned Space Agency of China (CMSA) said this spacewalk is a significant milestone for China’s space-manned program. It shows their ability to perform long-duration extravehicular activity.

According to CMSA, astronauts Li and Ye completed the space debris protection device’s installation outside the space station. They also inspected extravehicular equipment and facilities outside the space station.

Meanwhile, a third astronaut supported the two astronauts or spacewalkers while keeping an eye on their movements- from inside the station. As well as the robotic arm of Tiangong and an astronaut team participated in this spacewalking mission from Earth.

*Chinese astronauts broke the record of 8 hours long spacewalk by Chinese spacewalkers of 2008*

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This spacewalk was the longest-extended EVA by Li and Ye since 2008. They started the spacewalk at 8:30 a.m. (Beijing time) and ending at 4:20 p.m. They successfully built a debris shield and other safety measures to improve the station’s protection outside Tiagong.

Shenzhou 18 mission aimed to strengthen the station’s resistance to space debris hits by installing extra equipment and performing maintenance. CSMA stated protecting the space station from debris is a crucial task with the amount of space junk increasing.

According to the CSMA, they will also conduct several scientific experiments, technical tests, astronaut crew EVA activities, and application payload EVA missions during the Shenzhou 18 mission.