Astronauts create history by recording nine-hour spacewalk

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong from China achieved a remarkable feat during their recent spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, conducting over nine hours of extravehicular activities (EVA).

This event was part of China’s Shenzhou 19 mission, which comprises three crew members, and occurred from late Monday night into Tuesday morning, as reported by officials from the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).

The duo of astronauts set a new record, surpassing the previous mark of eight hours and 56 minutes established by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms in March 2001, according to Space.

The successful EVA represents a significant achievement for the Shenzhou 19 mission, which docked with the Tiangong station on October 29 and is scheduled for a six-month duration.

CMSEO officials indicated that during the spacewalk, Cai and Song, alongside their crewmate Wang Haoze, who remained inside the Tiangong, “collaborated effectively, utilizing the support of the space station’s robotic arm and ground scientific researchers to complete the installation of the space debris protection device, inspect and dispose of extravehicular equipment and facilities, among other tasks.”

They further stated, “The extravehicular activities were entirely successful,” highlighting that Song, aged 34, “became the first astronaut from China born in the 1990s to engage in extravehicular activities.”

As reported by media, the spacewalk commenced on Monday at 11:51 PM EDT, when Cai, the commander of Shenzhou 19, exited the Wentian module of Tiangong. Song followed approximately 90 minutes later, at 1:32 AM.

Both astronauts re-entered the Wentian module at 8:57 AM on Tuesday, as noted in the CMSEO update. This resulted in an EVA duration of nine hours and six minutes, breaking the previous record by a margin of just 10 minutes.

This record-setting EVA marked the 17th occurrence of extravehicular activities outside the Tiangong space station.

The core module of the space station, known as Tianhe, was launched into orbit in April 2021, with two additional modules, Wentian and Mengtian, arriving in July 2022.