China’s Shenzhou-17 astronauts began their first extravehicular activities on Thursday to repair minor damage to the Tiangong space station’s solar panel. Mission Commander Tang Hongbo and Tang Shenjie began an approximately 7.5-hour extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, on Thursday. According to the China Manned Space Administration (CMSEO), the duo returned to Tiangong at 8:35 a.m. ET (1335 UTC) on Dec. 21 via the EVA hatch of the Wentian Science Module.

The mission of the Shenzhou-17 spacewalk included testing the repair of one of the solar panels of the Tianhe main module. It had previously been determined that the system suffered minor damage as a result of the impact of micro meteorites. The successful experimental repairs could be seen as a major step for China, which aims to keep the Tiangong space station operational and constantly occupied for at least a decade.

Crew member Jiang Xinlin assisted in operations from inside Tiangong with the help of the space station’s robotic arm. 34-year-old Tang Shenji became China’s youngest astronaut to go on EVA. Tang Hongbo performed his first spacewalk during the Shenzhou-12 mission in July 2021 and was the first person to visit the Tianhe core module.

“This extra ship activity is extremely important and extremely complex. “This is pure orbital maintenance,” Tang Hongbo said after the spacewalk, according to CCTV.

Tang Hongbo said, “At that moment, when I was there, I deeply felt the vastness of the starry sky and the deep meaning of the endless exploration of space.” said.

The main video released by CMSEO shows astronauts examining the solar array closely with the help of the station’s robotic arms. According to Dong Nengli, deputy chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, EVA presented astronauts with new challenges.

“In previous extravehicular activities, the astronauts’ main tasks were installation and verification. We called these extravehicular activities on Thursday an experimental service,” Dong told CCTV.

“This time the astronauts operated one of the solar wings. It is flexible to some extent and also very thin, which limits the operating area to some extent,” Dong said.

Dong added that successful EVA means teams have mastered the ability to perform some repairs outside the vehicle. Thus, the achievement was that “we laid a solid foundation to ensure the safety and reliability of the space station in the future.”

The work required close coordination with the ground. “Repair work requires a very high level of precision, so it requires high precision in astronauts’ work and ability to use instruments,” Wang Yanlei, director of the Astronaut Selection and Training Department of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, told CCTV.

“They also had to confirm ground-to-space coordination and verify position accuracy.” – added Wang.

Development of Tiangong plans

China completed construction of Tiangong in October 2022 and continues to develop plans for its use. CMSEO plans to launch an add-on module that will expand the orbital outpost. Yang Liwei, the country’s first astronaut to fly into space, said that the selection process for the first international astronauts to visit Tiangong is ongoing.

A report by the Air Force’s China Aerospace Exploration Institute (CASI) earlier this year found that how CMSEO manages Tiangong, such as its relationships with civilian astronauts and non-state-owned enterprises (SOEs), affects China’s global image. It was said that it was likely to change. space. program. CMSEO operates under the leadership of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Gui Haichao became the first Chinese civilian in space during the five-month Shenzhou-16 mission earlier this year. Commercial launch companies could also play a role in Tiangong’s new low-cost cargo distribution system. The CMSEO cargo program is a clear indication that China wants to copy an approach that brought great success to NASA, Thomas Hrozenski, a senior fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), told SpaceNews earlier this year.

Also on December 21, components of the Long March 7 rocket arrived at the Wenchang Coastal Cosmodrome. The rocket will launch the Tianzhou-7 cargo mission to Tiangong in mid-January.