This was the second spacewalk for the Shenzhou 14 crew to work on Tiangong’s new Wentian laboratory module.
Two Chinese astronauts, Cai Xuzhe and Chen Dong installed pumps, a handle to open the hatch door from outside in an emergency, and a foot-stop to fix an astronaut’s feet to a robotic arm, state media said, according to CTV News Canada.
The two astronauts began their spacewalk Saturday (Sept. 17) at 1:35 a.m. EDT (0535 GMT or 1:35 p.m. Beijing time) outside the Tiangong space station and spent 4 hours and 12 minutes working on its new Wentian laboratory module.
“With the aid of the small mechanical arm, astronauts Cai and Chen conducted a series of extravehicular tasks, including the installation of extravehicular assistance handles and the extended pump set of the load circuits. They also verified the extravehicular rescue capability,” CCTV wrote of the excursion. Chen is the commander of the station’s Shenzhou 14 mission.
China is building its own space station after being excluded by the US from the International Space Station because its military runs the country’s space program.
The latest spacewalk was the second during a six-month mission that will oversee the completion of the space station. The first of two laboratories, a 23-ton module, was added to the station in July and the other is to be sent up later this year.
The Shenzhou 14 crew has been configuring the newly arrived Wentian on the space station. China launched the Wentian module on July 24. It docked with the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong station a few hours later, doubling the station’s number of modules to two.
The third member of the crew, Liu Yang, supported the other two from inside during the spacewalk. Liu and Chen conducted the first spacewalk about two weeks ago. Shenzhou 14’s crew is expected to do the first-ever handover with Shenzhou 15 in December.
