Two taikonauts perform first spacewalk from China’s new Tiangong station (VIDEO)

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July 4, 2021 10:28 GMT

This is the first time in 13 years that Chinese astronauts have visited open space.

This Sunday, Chinese astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo carried out the first spacewalk from the Tiangong space station.

For his part, Nie Haisheng, the first manned mission commander of the Tiangong (whose name means “Heavenly Palace”), supported the march from inside the cockpit. The mission began on June 17 and will last, as planned, three months.

Liu and Tang’s task was to take out a panoramic camera from the Tianhe central module, launched into orbit on April 29, and test the robotic arm that will be used to transfer future modules around the station.

This is the first of two spacewalks planned for the mission. It is also the first time since 2008 that Chinese astronauts have left the spacecraft in space.

In total, the Chinese space agency plans to conduct 11 launches by the end of 2022, including three additional manned missions that will provide two laboratory modules to expand the station, as well as supplies and crew members.

The Tiangong station is not the first in the history of Chinese cosmonautics. In 2011, the Asian giant put into orbit the automatic Tiangong 1 device and in 2019, the 15 cubic meter Tiangong 2 station, which was manned for 30 days. Today’s Tiangong offers much more comfortable conditions for the crew.

The Tiangong is expected to have a lifespan of at least 10 years. China has announced that it will be open to international collaboration on the station.