This image, taken by China Manned Space Engineering Office via CNS on August 20, 2021, shows Nie Haisheng, a Chinese astronaut, leaving the Tianhe core Module for a spacewalk.
On Friday, August 20, two Chinese astronauts completed their second spacewalk outside the country's space station. They installed a variety of equipment, including a backup air conditioner unit.
According to the China Manned Space Agency, astronauts Liu Boming (and Nie Haisheng) left the station's core modules at 10:12 Beijing time (0:13 EDT Thursday evening). Tang Hongbo, their colleague on the Shenzhou 12 mission was also present to support them.
Liu and Nie set up a variety of devices on the space station's exterior during the four-hour mission. They first attached a foot restraint to the robotic arm of the space station, and then a platform for extravehicular activities (EVA), which helped them move other equipment around the station.
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The thermal control pumping set was an essential part of the space station’s air-conditioning system. It will be used as a backup to the circulating pump within the module. A bracket was also attached to the panoramic camera at the hatch. This will improve the view of the station.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the astronauts returned to their module at 2:33 PM Beijing time (2:33 AM EDT), an hour earlier than planned.
Liu Boming stated that he would like to "thank all participants for strong cooperation" and thanked the people across the country for their love and care upon his return via CCTV.
Liu was also part of the team that performed EVAs outside the space station's new space station on July 4. This occurred two weeks after crew arrived at the station. He was accompanied at that time by Tang while Nie remained inside. Their mission to China will be the longest, with three months of space travel expected for all three astronauts.
Image 1: Two Chinese astronauts spacewalking at Tianhe's second station (Image credit to CMSE). Image 2: Inside China's Tianhe station (Image credit to CMSE).
China launched the core module of the space station, Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens") in English on April 28. Tianhe, which measures 54.4 feet (16.6 m) in length, is 13.8 feet (4.2 meters) wide at its widest point and weighs 22.5 tons (22.5 metric tons), is China's largest ever spacecraft. Two additional modules, Wentian & Mengtian, will join Tianhe's core module in order to create a T-shaped space station capable of supporting long-term human presence.
In mid-September, the crew of Shenzhou 12 will return to Earth. China is pursuing ambitious space goals. China, the east-Asian superpower, has announced plans to create an exploration base on Mars with Russia. It also successfully landed a rover onto Mars earlier in the year.
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