Two Chinese astronauts continued to install space debris protection outside the country’s Tiangong space station this week.
Ye Guangfu and Li Cong, two members of the three-person Shenzhou 18 mission, spent about 6.5 hours working outdoors Tiangong on Wednesday (July 3). Li Guangsu helped the expedition from inside Tiangong, operating the station’s robotic arm.
The main task was to install space debris protection outside the orbital laboratory. After that, Li Cong assembled the robotic arm and conducted an extravehicular inspection of the space station facilities through his helmet camera.
The pair returned to Tiangong through the Wentian science module’s extravehicular activity (EVA) hatch.
“The main objective of space walk this time is to install protective devices for extravehicular equipment, mainly cables and pipelines, so as to improve the space station’s ability to operate safely and steadily in the long term,” said Liu Ming, an engineer with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation . state broadcaster CCTV.
O previous spacewalk in Shenzhou 18 In late May, Ye and Li Guangsu installed space debris protection on the outside of the Mengtian experimental module. This EVA set a national record of about 8.5 hours of work outside Tiangong.
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“The Chinese space station is very beautiful. Every time the robotic arm moves to the highest point, I can’t help but look more at the space station despite the strong sunlight. I really feel the grandeur of the project in my heart, and I applaud all space professionals and our motherland,” Li Cong said outside Tiangong.
China Human Spaceflight Agency stated on Thursday (July 4) – the third anniversary of the first Tiangong EVA, conducted by the Shenzhou 12 crew – that 16 spacewalks have now taken place outside the space station, with a total of 17 different astronauts involved. O Shenzhou 15 The mission crew (November 2022 to June 2023) conducted the most EVAs of any mission, with four.
