BEIJING: The second spacewalk by China’s Shenzhou-14 astronauts, or taikonauts, went “very smoothly” and “extremely well,” said Huang Weifen, the China Manned Space Program’s chief astronaut system designer.
The extravehicular activities (EVAs) started at 1:35 p.m. Beijing Time on Saturday, when taikonaut Cai Xuzhe opened the hatch of the airlock cabin of the Wentian lab module. By 3:33 p.m., both Cai and mission commander Chen Dong were outside the space station. Their crewmate Liu Yang stayed inside the core module to support their operations.
Cai and Chen returned to the lab module at 5:47 p.m. after about five hours of EVAs, and the China Manned Space Agency declared the mission a complete success.
The taikonauts completed a series of tasks, including installing an extravehicular assistance handle to help them open the hatch from outside the space station in an emergency and additional pumps – the core equipment in the space station’s thermal control system.
“The entire process went very smoothly,” Huang told CGTN.
“We’ve improved the process of EVAs after the last spacewalk on September 1. This time, the tasks were better arranged, and all systems cooperated so well that the efficiency was greatly improved.” She said all three taikonauts did a great job in the mission, especially the two crew members who ventured outside the cabin.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
