Chinese astronaut Nie Haisheng leaves the Tianhe core module for a spacewalk.
Beijing, China:
Chinese astronauts entered space on Friday to put the finishing touches on a robotic arm on the Tiangong space station.
The raid, the second spacewalk in two months and broadcast on state television, is part of China’s heavily promoted space program in which the nation has already landed a rover on Mars and sent probes to the moon.
In June, three crew members arrived at the station, where they will remain in space for a total of three months during China’s longest manned mission to date.
On Friday, astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming successfully exited Tianhe’s core module to install footrests and a workbench on the station’s robotic arm, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement.
Video footage shows the astronauts working outside the spacecraft tied to it with a long rope.
Their duties also include working on a thermal unit and adjusting a panoramic camera, state broadcaster CCTV reports.
This is only the third spacewalk for Chinese astronauts, after the first in 2008 — when China’s Zhai Zhigang made China the third country to take a spacewalk after the Soviet Union and the United States.
The second took place in early July, when Liu and the third crew member Tang Hongbo left the station.
It is China’s first manned mission in nearly five years and a matter of enormous prestige as the country celebrates the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party.
(This story was not edited by NewsMadura staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
