BEIJING, May 28, 2024 (Xinhua News)—The Shenzhou-18 crew (全体工作人员) completed the first spacewalk of their mission (任务) at 6:58 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Tuesday, according to the CMSA (中国载人航天局).

The two members of the Shenzhou-18, Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu, started their spacewalk. They worked outside the Tiangong space station for nearly 8.5 hours. With the help of space equipment (设备) and a team on Earth, they successfully completed many tasks during their spacewalk, including some difficult fixing tasks. Now they have returned to the Wentian lab module (实验舱). The third crew member, Li Cong, stayed inside Tiangong to provide support.

The Shenzhou-18 crew has set a new record for the longest single spacewalk by Chinese astronauts.

This marked Ye’s second time to have a spacewalk and his first spacewalk was in the Shenzhou-13 mission, but this is the first time for Li Guangsu to start a spacewalk.

The mission will include many tasks. First of all, the three members will do a series of space science experiments (实验) and many necessary tests. And then, they will carry out more activities and do some fixing work outside the space station. The three astronauts will work on board Tiangong until late October, according to the CMSA.

So far, Chinese astronauts have successfully carried out 15 spacewalks in all. On September 27, 2008, astronaut Zhai Zhigang in Shenzhou-7 mission made history as China’s first person to take a spacewalk, which lasted about 19 minutes.

The Shenzhou-15 crew has achieved a milestone (里程碑) by having 4 spacewalks, marking the highest number of spacewalks by a single Chinese astronaut crew.

The Shenzhou-17 members completed, for the first time, the repair work to keep the equipment in good condition during their second spacewalk, which lasted about 8 hours.