BEIJING: China’s Shenzhou XIII mission crew conducted their second extravehicular activity on Sunday.
During the spacewalk, which started at 6:44 pm on Sunday, mission commander Major General Zhai Zhigang and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu adjusted the position of a panoramic camera and tested their spacesuits and the robotic arm.
Senior Colonel Wang Yaping stayed inside the Tiangong space station to support the operation.
According to the China Manned Space Agency, the spacewalk helped to improve the astronauts’ skill at cooperating with each other and ground control, and built experience that will benefit future spacewalks. It was the first spacewalk for Ye, who joined China’s second group of astronauts in May 2010.
Pang Zhihao, a spaceflight researcher in Beijing who worked at the China Academy of Space Technology for decades, said making spacewalks has become a regular part of China’s manned space missions.
“Our astronauts have learned a lot about extravehicular maneuvers through previous spacewalks. Next, they will have many challenging, demanding tasks in future spacewalks, such as installing equipment and fixing malfunctions,” he said.
The Shenzhou XIII mission was launched on Oct 16 by a Long March 2F carrier rocket that blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, with the crew soon entering the Tiangong space station. They are scheduled to spend six months working in the station, making it China’s longest space mission.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
