Two Chinese astronauts aboard their country's orbiting space station have completed a spacewalk lasting nine hours, marking the longest recorded extravehicular activity, according to the Chinese space administration.
The astronauts, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, participated in the Shenzhou-19 mission and surpassed the previous record of eight hours and 56 minutes set by two American astronauts in 2001, as reported by China's Manned Space Agency. This achievement highlights China's growing ambitions in space exploration.
After the spacewalk on Tuesday, astronaut Song expressed a profound appreciation for the significance of manned space endeavors, stating that they admired the views of space while feeling the weight of their mission, as reported by Chinese state television.
The astronauts launched into space in late October as part of a mission focused on building and maintaining the Tiangong Space Station. They were joined by a third astronaut-engineer, Wang Haoze, who remained inside the station to assist during the spacewalk.
The crew is scheduled to spend six months in orbit on the Tiangong station, conducting experiments and undertaking additional spacewalks, according to Chinese news reports. The mission is viewed as a precursor to potential future manned missions to the moon.
Since the first spacewalk in 1965, when a Soviet astronaut spent 16 minutes outside his craft, the practice has evolved significantly. The first Chinese spacewalk occurred in 2008, lasting 19 minutes.
While China's Manned Space Agency did not officially declare the spacewalk as a world record, it noted that it was the longest for Chinese astronauts, possibly awaiting international recognition.
The agency explained that the astronauts' spacewalk served critical objectives, including the installation of equipment to safeguard the station against space debris and the inspection of external equipment.
In addition to the astronauts, the Tiangong space station is also hosting fruit flies for research on how reduced magnetism and microgravity impact their growth and behavior, as stated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.