Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to make a space walk after carrying out extravehicular activities outside the Tianhe central module of the Chinese space station.
On a spacewalk on November 7, the astronaut teamed up with Zhai Zhigang, who already conducted China’s first spacewalk 13 years ago during the Shenzhou-7 mission. In addition to being a taikonaut, Wang is a military transport pilot. She is 41 years old.
Wearing next-generation Feitian spacesuits, the team carried out a series of extravehicular tasks with the help of the mechanical arm, while their partner Ye Guangfu remained inside Tianhe to help his fellow crew members complete operations. The whole process took 6.5 hours.
The mission tested the functions of the new-generation extravehicular space suits developed by China, the coordination between the astronauts and the mechanical arm, and the reliability and safety of support equipment related to extravehicular activities, the Chinese space administration noted, cited by Xinhua.
China launched the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft on October 16, in which it sent three astronauts on a six-month mission to build its space station.
By Europa Press
