Two Chinese astronauts, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, broke a record by completing an extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the Tiangong space station on Tuesday. The 9-hour, 6-minute spacewalk surpassed the previous record held by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms during the STS-102 mission in 2001.
Cai, the commander of the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft, exited the Wentian experiment module hatch at 11:51 p.m. Eastern Time on December 16, wearing a Feitian extravehicular activity suit marked with red. He was assisted by crewmate Song Lingdong, who exited the Wentian module at 1:32 a.m. Eastern Time to perform his tasks.
During the spacewalk, Cai and Song carried out installation of space debris protection devices, inspected external equipment, and handled facilities. They also installed protective panels to shield cables and pipelines from debris outside the Tianhe module.
The EVA was supported by crewmate Wang Haoze inside Tiangong’s Tianhe module and received support from the ground. The astronauts returned to the Wentian module at 8:57 a.m. Eastern Time, closing the hatch after completing their tasks.
This record-breaking spacewalk marks the first of the Shenzhou-19 mission, which is China’s 14th crewed spaceflight mission. Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong are both making their first trip to space, while Wang Haoze assisted operations from inside Tiangong’s Tianhe module.
The Tiangong space station was launched in 2021 and has been operational since December 2022. China’s National Space Administration has stated that the Feitian suits have a service life of three years and can be used 15 times, while supporting a working time of eight hours.
Source: https://spacenews.com/shenzhou-19-astronauts-complete-record-breaking-9-hour-spacewalk