Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong made history by completing a groundbreaking nine-hour spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, surpassing a previous record set over two decades ago. This extraordinary achievement was part of China’s Shenzhou 19 mission, which launched on October 29 for a six-month journey with three crew members aboard.
The record-breaking extravehicular activity (EVA) began late Monday night and concluded early Tuesday morning, as confirmed by the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO). The astronauts outperformed the previous spacewalk record of eight hours and 56 minutes, held since 2001 by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms.
During this monumental EVA, Cai and Song collaborated with their teammate Wang Haoze, who managed operations from inside the station. Supported by the Tiangong’s robotic arm and ground-based researchers, they installed a protective device for space debris, inspected external equipment, and performed various maintenance tasks.
Officials described the mission as a resounding success, highlighting that Song, at just 34 years old, became the first Chinese astronaut born in the 1990s to perform a spacewalk.
The spacewalk began at 11:51 PM EDT on Monday when mission commander Cai exited the Wentian module. Song joined him approximately 90 minutes later. By the time both re-entered the module at 8:57 AM on Tuesday, they had set a new milestone with a duration of nine hours and six minutes, edging out the previous record by 10 minutes.
This remarkable EVA marks the 17th of its kind performed at the Tiangong space station. The station’s core module, Tianhe, has been in orbit since April 2021, with additional modules, Wentian and Mengtian, added in 2022.
ARY NEWS, CNN, BBC NEWS, REUTERS
